Cover

Table of Contents
Color Inserts
Copyrights and Credits
Title Page
Table of Contents Page
Prologue
Chapter 1: Is This Another World?
Chapter 2: The Creeped-Out Maid
Chapter 3: A Textbook of Magic
Chapter 4: Master
Chapter 5: Swords and Sorcery
Chapter 6: Reasons for Respect
Chapter 7: Friends
Chapter 8: Obliviousness
Chapter 9: Emergency Family Meeting
Chapter 10: Stunted Growth
Chapter 11: Parted
Extra Chapter: The Mother of the Greyrat Family
Character Design Concept Gallery
Newsletter
Color Inserts
Copyrights and Credits
Title Page
Table of Contents Page
 Prologue

I was a thirty-four-year-old man with no job and nowhere to live. I

was a nice guy, but I was on the heavy side,
me, and was in the midst of regretting my entire life.

classic, stereotypical, long-time shut-

life. And then, all of a sudden, my parents died. Being the shut-in that I was, I

It was quite the scene when they kicked me out of the house afterward.
one over. I was the

without leaving my room. On the day of the funeral, I was halfway through
jerking off, my body arched in the air, when my brothers and sisters barged
into my room in their mourning garb and delivered their letter formally
disowning me. When I ignored it, my younger brother smashed my
computer which I valued more than myself with a wooden bat.
Meanwhile, my older brother, the one with a black belt in karate, stormed
over in a blind rage and beat the crap out of me.
I just let it happen, sobbing uselessly all the while, hoping that would be
the end of it. But my siblings forced me out of the house with nothing but the
clothes on my back. I had no choice but to wander around town, nursing the
throbbing pain in my side. It felt like I had a broken rib.
The biting words they hurled at me as I left our house would ring in my
ears for the rest of my life. The things they said cut me to my very core. I was
completely, totally heartbroken.
What the hell had I even done wrong? All I did was skip out on our

So, what in the world was I supposed to do now?

I knew the answer: look for a part- or full-time job, find myself a place
to live, and buy some food. The question was how? I had no idea how to even
begin looking for a job.
Well, okay, I knew the basics. The first place I should check out was an
employment agency except I seriously had been a complete shut-in for over
ten years, so I had no idea where any of those were. Also, I remembered
hearing that those agencies only handled the introductions to job
on offer and sit for an interview.
And here I was, wearing a sweatshirt caked in a mixture of sweat,
grime, and my own blood. I was in no state for an interview. No one was

ob.

stationery shop? The convenience store? There were convenience stores

But what if I could take care of all that? With some luck, I could borrow
some money from a loan company or something, buy myself some new
clothes, and then purchase some résumé paper and something to write with.

address or anywhere to live.

I was hosed. I finally realized that, despite having come this far, my life
was completely ruined.

Summer was over, bringing with it the autumn chill. My worn-out,

years-old sweatshirt soaked up the cold rain, mercilessly robbing my body of
precious heat.

slipping unbidden from my mouth.

 being. I was born to
a well-off family, the fourth of five children, with two older brothers, an older
sister, and a younger brother. Back in elementary school, everyone always

but I was good at video games and had an athletic bent. I got along with folks.
I was the heart of my class.
In junior high, I joined the computer club, pored over magazines, and
saved up my allowance to build my very own PC
the first thing about computers, barely gave it a second thought.
well, the last year of junior high, I
suppose that my life got all messed up.
I spent so much time fixated on my computer that I neglected my
studies. In hindsight, that was probably what led to everything else.

was pointless. As a result, I wound up going to what was widely considered

the worst high school in the prefecture, where the lowest of the delinquents
went.

There was an incident from back then that I still remembered. I was in
line to buy lunch from the school store when someone cut in front of me.
Being the morally upstanding young man I was, I gave him a piece of my
mind, getting all up in his face, striking an awkward, humorless, and self-
conscious pose.
But as my luck would have

buddies pounded my face swollen and puffy, then hung me from the school
gate, buck naked, practically crucified for all to see.
They took a ton of pictures, which they circulated throughout the
school like it was some simple prank. My social standing among my
classmates plummeted to rock bottom overnight, leaving me with the
nickname Pencil Dick.
I stopped going to school for over a month, holing up in my room
instead. My father and older brothers saw the state I was in and told me to
keep my chin up and not to give up and other patronizing things like that. I
ignored it all.
nder
said, I remained steadfastly holed up. All of the other kids in my class had
seen those pictures and were laughing at me. I was sure of it.
mputer and my internet
connection, I was still able to kill plenty of time. I developed an interest in all
sorts of things thanks to the internet, and I did all sorts of things as well. I
constructed plastic model kits, tried my hand at painting figurines, and
started my own blog. My mother would give me as much money as I could
cajole out of her, almost like she was supporting me in all this.
Despite that, I gave up on all of these hobbies within a year. Anytime I
saw someone who was better at something th
To an outsider, it probably looked like I was just playing around and having
fun. In reality, I was locked inside my shell with nothing else to do during my
time alone.
No. In retrospect, that was just another excuse. I probably would have
been better off deciding I wanted to be a manga artist and posting a silly little
web comic online, or deciding I wanted to be a light novel author and
serializing stories, or something like that. There were plenty of people in
circumstances like mine who did that sort of thing.
Those were the people I made fun of.

I wanted to go back to school ideally to grade school, or maybe junior

high. Hell, even going back a year or two would be fine. If I had a little more
-
I really applied myself, I could be

the computer, th
best, I would have accomplished something by being halfway decent and
applying myself.
Like manga or writing. Maybe video games or programming.
Whichever the case, with the proper effort, I could have gotten results, and
from there, I could have made money and

ings that normal

where I was now.

involved with that sort of thing. Even as I was thinking that, however, my feet
kept carrying me in that direction.

What I saw when I rounded the corner were three high schoolers in the

dressed in the now-vanishingly rare tsume-eri jackets and a sailor suit,

respectively. The scene was almost like a battlefield, with one of the boys, an
especially tall fellow, in a verbal spat with the girl. The other boy had
interposed himself between the two in an attempt to placate them, but his
pleas were completely ignored.
that myself.
This sight brought back older memories. Back in junior high, I had one
childhood friend who was real cute. And when I say cute, I mean like fourth-
or fifth-cutest in the class. She wore her hair very short, since she was on the
track team. Of every ten people she passed by on the street, at least two or
three would turn to look back at her. Also, there was this one anime I was
super into at the time, so I thought the track team and short hair thing was
cute. Even her less-attractive attributes were fine by me.
She lived nearby, so we were in the same class for a lot of grade school
and junior high. All the way up to junior high, we often walked home
together. We had plenty of chances to talk, but wound up arguing a lot. I did
some regrettable things. To this day, I can get off three times in a row to the

ing in the
living room.

since we were little, so we were able to talk to each other pretty openly. I

into the s

how I felt, maybe we might have wound up dating.

se three kids

abandoned classroom after school.

 And then, I noticed something: There was a truck speeding right
toward the group of three students. The driver was slumped over, asleep at
the wheel.

-
spoken aloud in over a decade, and my already-weak vocal cords had further
tightened due to the pain in my ribs and the chill of the rain. All I could
muster was a pathetic, wavering squeak that was lost in the din of the
downpour.

was pretty sure seeing three teenagers splattered into paste by a truck

Better to save them. I had to do something.

dead on the side of the road, but I figured

spend my final moments mired in regret.

I staggered as I started to run. Ten-plus years of barely moving made
my legs slow to re
more. My busted ribs sent a startling jolt of pain through me, threatening to

calcium.
Even so, I ran. I was capable of running.

truck yet. I grabbed him by the collar and yanked him behind me with all my
might, then pushed him
Good. Now that left the other two.

unavoidable, and had nothing to do

simply stumbled a bit too far.

The instant before the truck made contact, a light blossomed behind
me. Was I about to see my life flash before my eyes, like people said? It only

-lived.
 I was struck by a truck more than fifty times my weight and thrown

were still spasming for oxygen in the wake of running flat out.

Except the truck was still moving. It pinned me against the concrete,
crushing me like a tomato, and then I was dead.
 Chapter 1:
Is This Another World?

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was dazzling light. It
grew to encompass my entire field of vision, and I squinted in discomfort.
Once my vision adjusted, I became aware of the blonde young lady
gazing at me. She was one gorgeous girl wait, no. She was definitely a
woman.
Who is she? I thought.
By her side was a young man of roughly the same age, his hair brown,
his awkward smile directed at me. He looked strong, proud, and impressively
muscled.
Brown-haired and stubborn-looking? I ought to have reacted
negatively the instant I saw this big oaf but to my surprise, there was no
feeling of ill will. His hair must have been dyed that color. It was a very
fetching shade of brown.
The woman looked at me with a warm smile and spoke. Her words
were oddly indistinct and difficult to make out, however. Was she even
speaking Japanese?
The man said something in reply, his face losing some of its tension. I
likewise had no idea what he said.

who was speaking. I tried getting up to figure out where I was and to ask
these people who they were. And let me tell you, I may have been a shut-in,

could muster was this:

Nothing but garbled whining and moaning.

fingertips and my arms, but I couldn

The brown-haired man said something else, then suddenly leaned
down and picked me up. This was absurd! I weighed over a hundred kilos.

in a coma for a few weeks?

That

For the rest of the day, I dwelled on a single thought:

 My life is going to be a living hell.

***

in: I was a baby.

I was finally able to confirm that after being picked up and having my
head cradled so I could see my own body. But why did I still have all of my
memories of my prior life? Not that I was complaining, exactly, but who
would imagine someone being reborn with all their memories to say
nothing of that wild delusion actually being true?
The two people I first saw when I came to must have been my parents.
If I had to gue
-four-year-old self would
have written them off as kids.

appeared to be some form of old-

resembled home appliances; a woman in a maid outfit came by and cleaned
with a rag. The furniture, eating utensils, and the like were all crudely

developed nation.

Perhaps my
bill.
But how likely was that, really? Seeing as they had a maid, I figured that

housekeeping, right?
I had wished that I could go back and do everything over again, but

***
 Another half a year went by.

pick up some of the language. My English grades had never been great, but I

makes it harder to advance in your studies. Or maybe, given that I had a new
body, my brain was better suited to learning this time? I felt like I had an
unusual knack for remembering things, perhaps because I was still so young.
Around this time, I started learning to crawl as well. Being able to move

body.

mother said.

as I c

the wailing out were when I tried, and invariably failed, to stop myself from
soiling my pants.
Even though I could only crawl, I learned a lot from being able to move
around. The first thing I learned was that this was definitely the home of a
rich family. The house was a wooden, two-story structure with over five
separate ro
was my aunt or something, but given her deferential attitude toward my
mother and father, I doubted she was family.
Our house was located in the countryside. Outside the windows
stretched a peaceful, pastoral landscape.
There were few other houses, just two or three nestled amidst the

any telephone poles or streetlights. There might not even be a power station
ne

electricity.
This place was way too pastoral. It grated on me, since I was used to the
comforts of modern civilization. Here I was, having been reborn, practically
dying to get my hands on a computer.
But all of that changed early one afternoon.
scenery. I clambered onto a chair as I usually did in order to get a peek out
through the window, and then my eyes went wide.
My father was in our yard, swinging a sword around.
What in the world was he doing? He was old enough to know better
than that. Was this the kind of person my dad was? Some sort of fantasy
dweeb?
Uh-oh. In my daze of astonishment, I started slipping from the chair.

weight not with how top-heavy my head made me and I fell.

I hit the floor with a thud and immediately heard a cry of alarm. I saw
my mother drop the load of laundry she was carrying, her face going pale as
she brought her hand to her mouth.

she met my gaze, her expression slackened with relief, and she stroked my

Easy there, lady, I thought. Careful with my head. I just whacked that
thing.

mean, I did land right on my head. Maybe I was going to be permanently

stupid. Not that that would be a change from the usual.

g or anything. Just a bump or something, in all

likelihood.
She peered carefully at my head. The look on her face suggested that,
injury or no, she was taking this pretty seriously. Finally, she rested her hand
Let this divine power
be as satisfying nourishment, giving one who has lost their strength the
strength to rise again Healing
-boo
to make it all better? Or was she another fantasy nerd like my sword-
swinging father? Was this a case of the Fighter marrying the Cleric?

pain in my head was instantly gone.

Bwuh?
mmy used to be a
 My mind reeled in confusion, various terms whirling through my mind:

Seriously what just happened?

My father, having heard my m

probably from swinging that sword of his around.

managed to climb up onto the chair.

This sort of back-and-forth was pretty common with my parents. But

se of how

how kids grow up to be tough. Besides, if he does get hurt, you can just heal

My mother clutched me more tightly, her face going red.

much o
leaned in to give my mother a kiss.
All right, you two. Get a room, will ya?
After that, my parents took me into the other room to put me to bed,
then headed upstairs to make me a baby brother or sister. I could tell because
I could hear the creaking and moaning coming from the second floor. I guess
there was life outside the internet.

***

In the wake of all that, I paid extra-close attention to the conversations

my parents had with one another and the help. In so doing, I noticed them

countries and regions and territories

heard before.
 A world of swords and sorcery.
And it occurred to me: if I lived in this world, I could do all those things,
to
rules of common sense as my past life. I could live as a typical person, doing
the typical things for this world. Where I stumbled, I would get back up, dust
myself off, and forge onward.
My former self had died full of regret, died feeling frustrated at his

all of my missteps. With all the knowledge and experience from my past life, I
could finally do it.
I could finally live life right.
 Chapter 2:
The Creeped-Out Maid

Lilia used to be a royal handmaiden for the Asura Palace harem. In

addition to her usual duties as a lady-in-waiting, the role also called for her to
act as a

carried out her job as handmaiden without flaw or fail.

When it came to her role as a fighter, however, her skill with a sword
was merely adequate at best. As a result, Lilia found herself wholly

dagger catching her in the leg. The blade had been coated with poison, the
sort meant to kill even a member of the royal family, a troublesome toxin that
could not be cured by purifying magic.
Thanks to the wound being promptly tended to by Healing magic, and a

but there were ling

daily life, but she could no longer run at any real speed, her gait reduced to a
clumsy stagger.

discharged her from her position. Lilia understood why perfectly well. It only
made sense to lose a job she was no longer able to perform. Although this left
her unable to pay even her basic living expenses, given her position in the
court, she considered herself lucky not to have been executed in secret. And
so, Lilia left the capital.

Lilia was well aware that she was a likely target. Or perhaps had the palace
set her free to lure out whoever was behind this plot?

taken on a lowborn woman such as herself. Perhaps they wanted to hire a

simple maid who could easily be disposed of.
Whatever the case, for her own safety, Lilia needed to get as far away
from the capital as she could. Regardless of whether the palace really was
using her as bait, she no longer had any standing orders, no longer had
anything holding her back.
She no longer felt any sense of obligation to her old life.
 After taking a series of stagecoaches, Lilia arrived at the Fittoa Region, a
vast agricultural area on the borders of the kingdom. Apart from the Citadel
of Roa, the city where the local lord resided, the region was little more than a
grand expanse of wheat fields.

With her leg impaired, a career as a fighter was now off the table. She
could conceivably still teach swordsmanship, but she preferred to find work
as an attendant mainly because it paid much better. Here on the outskirts
of the kingdom, there were plenty of people who could wield a blade and
teach others how to do the same. There were far fewer people who were fully
trained royal maids, capable of overseeing the running of an entire
household. Even if the pay was lower than she hoped, money was still money.
Being hired as a handmaiden by the lord of Fittoa, or even the high-
ranking nobles who served him, was a dicey prospect. The people in those
circles had a pipeline right back to the capital. If they found out she was a

y had one brush with death, and that was

enough for her.
No offense to the princess, but Lilia was going to do what she wanted,
someplace far away from the war of succession.
The issue was that less-
services. Finding a place that was both safe and still paid decently proved
rather difficult.

***

After a month of wandering about Fittoa, Lilia finally came across a job
posting that caught her eye. A low-ranking knight in Buena Village was
looking for a housekeeper. The posting specified that they were looking for
someone with experience in raising children, who could also act as midwife.
Buena Village was a small hamlet on the far edge of the Fittoa Region. It
was out in the middle of nowhere, even by middle-of-nowhere standards. The
location was inconvenient, but otherwise, it was everything Lilia had been
looking for. Her employer being a knight, even a low-ranking one, was
another unexpected boon.
on. It was
one that Lilia recognized: Paul Greyrat.
she had been studying swordplay, the lazy, no-good son of a noble family had
wned by his father in
the wake of a fight and would now be studying the sword while sleeping at
the hall.
Paul had also studied swordplay at home, so despite having practiced a

less than amused by that, but chalked it up to her own lack

Paul, on the other hand, positively radiated talent. One day, however,
he abruptly left the training hall after causing some kind of big stir for
reasons unknown to Lilia. He left with one final

The man was like a hurricane.

***

It had been seven years since Lilia had last seen Paul. And not only had
he become a knight since then, but now he was also married? Lilia could
scarcely believe it. She

rom the
past. She had several stories up her sleeve to use as bargaining chips if she
needed to. Having done that bit of mercenary calculus in her mind, Lilia
headed for Buena Village.
Paul welcomed Lilia with open arms. His wife, Zenith, was due soon,
and the couple was quite frazzled. Lilia had the essential technical know-how
from seeing to the birth and rearing of the princess; plus, she was a familiar
face that one of them could vouch for. The family was happy to have her
aboard.
Also, the pay was better than Lilia had been hoping for. To her, it was
like a dream come true.

***

And then the child was born.

 The birth itself was problem-free, with everything proceeding as it

typically expect complications, everything went smoothly.

But once he was born, the child did not cry. Lilia broke into a cold

expelled amniotic fluid, and he made no sound. For a moment, he looked like
he might have been stillborn. But when Lilia reached out, she could feel the

tended to have a host of abnormalities.

At that very instant, however, her thoughts were interrupted.

The baby turned his face toward Lilia, his expression slack, burbling
random sounds. Relief washed over Lilia.

okay.

***

The child was given the name Rudeus, and what an unsettling child he
was. He never cried, and never made a fuss. It might just have been that he
was physically frail, but that notion was soon proven false. Once Rudeus
learned to crawl, he began to make his way anywhere and everywhere
around the house the kitchen, the back door, the supply shed, the cleaning
closet, the fireplace, and so on. Sometimes, somehow, he even made his way
to the second floor. As soon as anyone took their eyes off him, he was gone.
Regardless, he would inevitably be found within the house. For some

perhaps he was still too scared to leave the house.

Was it around then, with him slipping away whenever unobserved, always
needing to be tracked down?
Rudeus was always smiling. Whether he was in the kitchen staring at
vegetables, or at the flickering of a candle in its holder, or at unwashed
undergarments, he was always burbling under his breath, chuckling as an
unsettling grin rose to his face.
 It was the kind of grin that viscerally repulsed Lilia. It reminded her of

way between the harem and the royal palace in the past. He was a bald man,
his smooth head gleaming in the sunlight and his corpulent belly wobbling as

What happened when Lilia picked Rudeus up was particularly

start panting and bury his face against her bosom. His throat would twitch as
he made weird, gleeful little giggles.
It was enough
where she wanted to reflexively hurl the boy to the floor. The child showed

smile as that cabinet minister, who was rumored to have purchased a

number of young women as slaves. And this was an infant, smiling like that.
Nothing could be more unsettling. Lilia felt she was bodily at risk from a
baby.
She could only wonder why this child was so strange.
Was he possessed by something malevolent? Had some curse been laid

stand idly by.

She rushed to the store, spending a small sum on what she needed.
Then, when the Greyrats were asleep, and without asking Paul for his
permission, she performed a traditional charm of banishment from her
homeland.

worked. The baby still had the same unsettling aura. Just the look on his face
was enough to give her the creeps.

thing! Even Paul, a man of weak principles who was something of a

with his own parentage.

Lilia had once heard a story in the palace harem. Back when the Asuran

night. It turned out he was possessed by a demon. Not knowing this, one of

back and killed her by stabbing her in the heart.

 It was a frightful story. And Rudeus was just like that. Lilia had no
doubts: This was another case of demonic possession. Oh, the boy was calm

through the house while the family was asleep and kill them all one by one.
Lilia had been far, far too hasty. She never should have taken this job.
At some point, she knew, she was going to be attacked.
She was, after all, the type to take superstitions quite seriously.

***

And so, Lilia lived in fear for the first year or so.
-unpredictable behavior
changed. Instead of disappearing and reappearing at random, he stayed holed

a generous word for a simple room that housed a few books.

Rudeus would shut himself in there and not come out. One day, Lilia
took a quick peek and there he was, staring fixedly at a book and muttering to

common language on the Central Continent, at least.

Besides, he was too young to be talking already, and certainly nobody
had taught him to read. Which meant the boy was just looking at the books
not reading them while making random sounds.
For it to be anything else would just be weird.
Even so, Rudeus sounded like he was speaking with an actual,
meaningful cadence for some reason, and it looked like he understood the
content of the book he was looking at. , Lilia thought as she
watched secretively through the crack in the door.
And yet, she strangely felt none of her usual revulsion toward him. Ever
since the boy had taken to hiding away in the study, his hard-to-define,

smile c
anymore. He had stopped burying his face in her chest and panting.
Why had
gotten a sense of earnestness and diligence from him that she was loath to

the same impression. From that point on, Lilia figured, it was best to leave the
boy be.
respon
contrast to mere months ago when there had only been a crude dullness. And
there was the gleam of a resolute will to go with that intellectual brightness.
What should they do? Nothing i
her the tools to make the right decision here.
a child
handmaidens? Or perhaps her mother? At least there was nothing too off or
unsettling about the boy now, nothing to fear.
In the end, Lilia decided to leave well enough alone. Any interference
 Chapter 3:
A Textbook of Magic

It had been
had finally developed enough that I could walk.

***

Having decided to give my life an honest shot this time, I first needed to
make a plan.
What had I lacked in my previous life? Study, exercise, and technique,

Whenever I did that to the maid, she made no attempt to mask the

Figuring that exercise was something that could wait, I began learning
to read books around the house. The study of language is a crucial thing;
almost one hundred percent of Japanese people are literate in their own
language, but many of them neglect their study of English or hesitate to
interact with people when abroad, so much so that the ability to speak a
foreign language is a valued skill. With that in mind, I decided to make this

because books were expensive in this world or because Paul and Zenith
both. As someone who
used to own a collection of several thousand books even if they were all
light novels the situation was tough to come to grips with.
Still, even five books were enough material to learn how to read. The
language of this world was close to Japanese, so I was able to pick it up
quickly enough. The written characters were completely different, but the
grammar was close to what I was familiar with, which thankfully meant I
y been
exposed to. My father would read to me, which allowed me to readily pick up
words. My new self being better at learning things probably had something to
do with it, too.
 Once I could read, I found the contents of our books pretty interesting.
ver had fun studying at any point in my life before, but after some

Anyway, I wondered if my father knew that his infant son understood

the things he was reading. I mean, I was cool with it, but I figured a normal

did.
These were the five books in our house:
Wandering the World, a reference guide to the various countries of the
world and their unique characteristics.
The Ecology and Weaknesses of Fittoan Monsters, which detailed the
various monstrous creatures of the Fittoa Region, where they lived, and how
to deal with them.
A Textbook of Magic l of attack spells, ranging from
the Beginner to Advanced levels.
The Legend of Perugius, a fairytale about a summoner named Perugius
and his companions, who battle a demon and save the world in a classic
good-versus-evil epic.
The Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth, a tale of action and adventure
where three master swordsmen of different styles meet and head into the
depths of the titular labyrinth.
Those last two were essentially fantasy novels, but the other three
made for good study. It was A Textbook of Magic that particularly drew my
attention. As someone who came from a world without magic, the chance to
read actual documentation on it was very relevant to my interests. Reading
the book taught me some of the fundamentals.
First, magic came in three types: Attack magic, to do battle against
others; Healing magic, to treat the wounds of others; and Summoning magic,
to call things forth. And that was it. There seemed to be lots of other things
you could do with magic, but according to the textbook, magic was something
birthed and developed in battle, and therefore not used much outside of
combat or hunting.
Second, you needed magical power in order to use magic meaning,
anyone could use magic so long as they had magical power. There were
chiefly two ways of
on the magical power imbued in an object. Either would suffice. There
former were like their own power generators, whereas the second type had
to use batteries.
In days of yore, the book said, people had largely used the power within
their own bodies for magic. But as research on magic progressed, things got
more and more complex. Accordingly, expendable sources of magical energy
were developed at an explosive rate. People with strong magical reserves had

spells, and so the old magical masters developed ways to draw power from
things other than themselves and channel that into magic.
Third, there were two ways of performing magic: incantation and

reciting words or inscribing mystic patterns to cast a spell, respectively. In

the old days, magic circles were the chief source of magical power, but in
modern times, incantations were far more commonplace. In older times, even
the shortest magical incantations took one or two minutes not exactly
something you could use in the heat of
magic circle, you could use it over and over again.
Incantations started becoming the norm when one magician succeeded
at greatly shortening them. The simplest such incantations were reduced to
around five seconds, and consequently became the only way people utilized
Attack magic. For the more complex rituals involved in Summoning magic,

primary means.
Four, the amount of magical power someone had was pretty much
determined at birth. In your typical RPG, you gain more MP as you level up,

where they were.

Almost everyone, which implied that some people changed over time. I
wondered w

knew my mother was able to use Healing magic, so maybe it was all right to
have some expectations for myself. Still, I was uneasy. Even if my parents
excelled a
task.

***

For the time being, I decided to try my hand at the simplest magic I
could. The textbook included both incantations and magic circle spells. Since
the former was now mainstream, and I had nothing to draw a magic circle
with, I opted to start by studying the incantations. As I understood it, as the
scope of a spell got larger, the invocations involved got longer, until you
eventually needed to use a magic circle in concert. But if I was starting out
with simpler things, I ought to be fine.
The most proficient of wizards, the book said, could cast spells without
incanting anything at all or drastically shorten the incanting time at the
people to circumvent the

change; there was no leveling up and no corresponding increase to maximum

MP. Maybe with training, the amount of MP spent on the spell decreased? But
spending less MP
Well, anyway. Whatever the case, I just needed to give it a shot.
With A Textbook of Magic in my left hand, I held out my right and
began to recite the words.

a single pure stream thereof

I felt a sensation like blood pooling in my right hand, and then, as if that
blood had extruded through my palm, a sphere of water about the size of my
fist manifested itself.

water fell and splattered onto the floor.

It looked like concentration was required in order to maintain a spell.

I could feel the blood welling in my hand once more.

go. Yeah, this feels right. Once again, I held out my right hand, forming an

sure how much magical power I had, but

using it over and over.
My plan was to practice one thing at a time until I could pull it off. I
would form the image in my mind and play it out, over and over, and try to
enact it upon reality. If I tripped up, I would call that image back to mind until
I had it perfectly emblazoned within my head.

my previous life. Thanks to that, I almost never screwed up a combo during a

real match. Hopefully that meant my training methodology would be sound
here, too.
 I drew a deep breath. My blood coursed through my body, from my toes
to the top of my head, collecting in my right hand, filling it with power. Then,
I felt that power pop into being before my palm. Now, bit by bit, so very, very
carefully, my thoughts fell in line with the beating of my heart.

I buckled down, and set my mind to it: water, water water

waterwaterwater

Splish.
In my moment of shock, the ball of water plopped to the floor.
spell. Did incantation not matter much when reproducing the flow of magical
power?
Was using magic without chanting really that easy? That had to be a
high-
successfully

energy of my body in the front of my mind and then willed it to take shape.

necessary after all. An

Hmm. Perhaps the incantation was an activation trigger for the spell,
where uttering the words would create the effect without having to focus on
the energy coursing through your body. That had to be what it was. Sort of
like the difference between manual and automatic transmissions in a car,
where you could still take manual control if you really wanted to.

This had some huge advantages. First, it made for easy teaching. Rather
than needing a convoluted explanation about feeling the blood coursing
through your veins converging and all that, casting a spell by chanting words

studies progressed, the idea of the incantation being an indispensable part of

the process would naturally take root.
The second advantage was that incantations were easy to use. Attack
magic, by its very nature, was something that needed to be done in the heat
of battle. It was a lot faster to rattle off a chant than it was to close your eyes
and stand there humming as you tried to concentrate. Also, in the heat of the
moment, it was far easier to blurt something out than it was to go through a
series of minute gestures.

I flipped through the book, but there was nothing about casting spells

difficult.
Maybe I had some kind of special talent, but I doubted it was something

used incantations from when they were a beginner to when they became a
master. After casting thousands or even tens of thousands of spells, the body
grew accustomed to the incanting; even if they did try to cast a spell
ordinarily done, and hence the book said nothing of it.
was hardly ordinary myself.
Did she

Oh, now I sure was interested!

Okay, okay. No getting ahead of myself. I needed to calm down and
keep my cool. My past self had gotten all caught up in this feeling, too, and we
know how he turned out: someone who puffed himself up because he was
better with computers than the average person, then got way too cocky and
failed hard at life.
I needed to keep a level head. Restrain myself. The important thing
here was not to think of myself as being better than other people. I was just a
beginner. A n00b. I was like a novice bowler who just happened to land a

needed to buckle down and focus on studying instead of mistaking this for
some sort of innate knack.
attempt a spell by chanting the incantation,
then practice single-mindedly by mimicking how it felt without using the
incantation.

me. My arm felt vaguely heavy, and my shoulder like I had something big
weighing it down. This was exhaustion. Had I been concentrating too hard?
-styled) low-end MMO master
who could go without sleep for six days when grinding. No way had this
paltry mental exertion drained me that much.
MP
was determined at birth, did that mean I only had enough MP to cast two
Waterball spells? That seemed way too low. Or maybe since this was my first
time, I just had
I tried once more, just to make sure, and I wound up passing out.

***
 I woke to

humiliating.
Dammit. How could I
Wait. I was only two years old, right? Wetting myself was still
forgivable at that age, yeah?
So, it seemed my magical power had been too low after all. That
deflated my mood some. Still, even if all I could muster was two Waterballs,
what mattered was how I used them, I supposed. Maybe I should concentrate
on conjuring them more quickly?
Ugh.

***

The next day, I still felt fine after conjuring my fourth Waterball. It was
after the fifth that I started to feel tired.

Given my experience the day before, I knew that casting another would
cause me to black out, so I decided to stop.
And then it hit me: That put my limit at six Waterballs

Had I been more tired because it was my first time? Had the spells consumed
more MP because it was my first time casting them?

anything to do with that. I had no idea. Perhaps my abilities would grow

further the next day.

***

The following day, my Waterball count increased significantly. Now I

was up to eleven.
What was the deal? It felt like the more I used the spell, the more I was
able to use it. If I was right, I would be able to pull off twenty-one the next
day.
The day after that, just to be on the safe side, I only cast five before
calling it a day.
 The day after that, though, I managed twenty-six. It looked like I was
right using the spell more frequently did allow me to cast it more.

reserves being set at birth? People were just assigning limitations to talent

The stuff written in the book seemed to take the perspective that there were
limits on what a person could achieve.

skills? Perhaps the book was saying that there was an upper limit on magical
power that no further amount of effort and training could get you past.
No. It was still too soon to come to that conclusion. For now, that would
ed as
they grew, or something. And using magic during childhood might rapidly
cause that upper limit to increase. Which meant I alone had a special quality
that
In my former world, they said that exercising while you were growing
let your abilities develop more rapidly; conversely, after you were done
growing, improvement only went so far even with intense effort. We might be
talking about magic in this world, but the realities of how the human body
w
Which meant there was only one thing for me to do: continue honing
my skills as best I could while I was still growing up.

***

The next day, I decided that I would continue to push my magic to its
limits daily, which increased how much I could use it. As I could recreate the
right feeling, casting a spell without an incantation was easy enough. I hoped
to master the Beginner spells for each branch of magic before long.

for offense. This included spells like Waterball and Fireball, as well as other
even more entry-level spells.
Spells were broken up into seven levels of difficulty: Beginner,
Intermediate, Advanced, Saint, King, Imperial, and Divine. Typically,
magicians with training could use the Advanced spells from the discipline of
magic they focused on, but could only use Beginner or Intermediate spells
from the other schools. Once someone was able to cast spells of a rank higher
than Advanced, they were acknowledged as a Fire Saint or Water Saint or
whatever, depending on their chosen branch.
Saint-tier magic. I kinda hoped to be that good someday. My magic
textbook, however, only included fire, water, wind, and earth spells up to the
Advanced level. Where was I ever going to learn Saint-tier magic, then?
No if you

to be frustrating. You need to start with the low-level stuff, like slimes.
Although I personally never managed to complete anything in that
game, even when I did start with slimes.

***

The Beginner-level water spells listed in the tome were as follows:

Waterball: hurls a spherical projectile of water.
Water Shield: causes a spout of water to erupt from the ground,
forming a wall.
Water Arrow: launches a bolt of water roughly twenty centimeters long
at a target.
Ice Smash: strikes an opponent with a mound of ice.
Ice Blade: creates a sword made out of ice.
These were all Beginner spells, but the amount of magical power they
required was very different, taking somewhere roughly between twice and
twenty times as much as the basic Waterball spell. For my fundamentals, I
stuck to water magic; if I tried fire magic, I might accidentally burn the house
down.
Speaking of fire magic, the amount of magical energy you put into a
spell affected the temperature of the results, so it stood to reason that
Advanced ice spells worked the same way. But despite the fact that the book
claimed both Waterball and Water Arrow were supposed to fly through the

A Textbook of Magic did say something about the size and speed of
spells. Maybe, after conjuring my projectile, I needed to imbue it with
additional magical energy in order to control its movement?
 And then: Splash!

After that, I experimented with making the Waterball bigger and

smaller. I tried creating two Waterballs at once, then attempted to change
their sizes separately.

spells fly.
Fire and wind spells remained floating in the air, since they wer
subject to gravity, but they fizzled out and disappeared after a while. I tried
using the wind to move the hovering orbs of flame, but I got the impression

***

Two months later, thanks to a mistake in my studies, I managed to get a

Waterball to fly. As a result, it finally became clear why incantations were a
key part of the process.
All incantations followed a similar process: spell genesis, size
determination, speed determination, and then activation. The caster was the
one who regulated those two intermediary steps before completing the spell.
First, the caster called forth the shape of the spell they wished to use.
Next, there was a window of time where they could add additional magical
power to impact its size. Third, after the size had been determined, there was

released the finished spell from their hand.

it. The trick was
to add magical power in two discrete stages after the initial casting. There

change t
In that vein, when using a spell without incanting, the caster had to
hold that entire process in their head. That sounded like an inconvenience,
but it did shorten the time it took to infuse the spell with power to affect its
shape and speed. This allowed for a spell to be cast a few seconds quicker.
 I was also able to tweak the process of creating the initial spell. For
ze a
Waterball and turn it into an Iceball that sort of thing. If I kept up my

like that.
Lots of things could work; it all just depended on what ideas came to
mind. This was starting to get fun!
Still, fundamentals were important. I needed to build up my magical
potential before I started experimenting.
I had two items on my training regimen now: increasing my magical
reserves and making silent spellcasting second nature. Setting goals that
were too grand upfront would only lead to disappointment. The trick was to
start small.
Okay, then. It was time to buckle down and do it. Every day from that
point on, I practiced my Beginner-tier spells until I was on the verge of
passing out from exhaustion.
 Chapter 4:
Master

I turned three years old.

Greyrat. My mother was Zenith Greyrat. And my name was Rudeus Greyrat,
the firstborn son of the Greyrat family.

actual, formal names were.

***

smile as I puttered about with A Textbook of Magic in hand, as I usually did.

however, make a point never to read it in front of them not because I

hunts had been a thing you know, where th

alive for heresy.
Of course, considering that my magic textbook was something of a

e magic was
something you only did when you were grown. If nothing else, magicians
risked blacking out if they used it too much; people might think it could stunt

With all that in mind, I decided to keep my magical aptitude a secret

that, though. Not if I wanted to test how quickly I could launch my spells.
Our maid (whose name was Lilia, apparently) would occasionally give
me stern looks, but my parents remained as blasé as ever, so I was pretty

to squander my childhood while I still had it. I needed to flex my talents now,
before they set and became too rigid. Now was the time for me to make the
most of things.

***

Then, one afternoon, my secret magic training came to an end.

My magical reserves had grown a decent amount, so I went through the
incantation for an Intermediate-tier spell rather casually. The Water Cannon:
Size 1, Speed 0. I figured that, as usual, the water would pool into my bucket.
Maybe it would flow over, but surely not by too much.
sive amount of water
that blasted a massive hole in the wall. I stood there, dumbstruck, watching
as water dripped from the wooden edges of that hole. I was too flummoxed to
think of what to do. Given the size of the hole, people would know it had been
made by magical means.
There was nothing I could do to change that now. I always had been
quick to give up.

Rudy! Ar

but all he cared about was that I was all right. He went on his guard, carefully
checking the surroundings.
round

a lot calmer than my dad. She looked first at the shattered wall, then at the

fixed on the page it was opened to.

My mother looked back and forth between me and the book, then
crouched in front of me. She looked me in the eye, her mouth curled into a
warm smile.

I wanted to look away, but I tried as hard as I could to keep my gaze

ke my
eyes off hers, no matter what. Right now, I needed to show sincerity. And the
simplest way to do that was to make eye contact at least you would look
sincere, regardless of how you felt.

Zenith asked.

Back in my old life, I told casual lie after casual lie until no one trusted

-tier sp

tiny fists and hopped around in ecstasy.

Well, she sure was in a good mood. I guess that meant the apology was
accepted?
Zenith was clearly thrilled by this development, but Paul still appeared

how to read yet, or

arely contained

Meanwhile, Lilia had casually and wordlessly begun to clean up. Either

maybe she just wanted to see my parents happy.

Zenith was over the moon, rambling on and on about how her son was

whether she was just being a proud mother or if being able to use an
Intermediate-level spell was considered that impressive. It had to be the

herself, without any basis.

I did
things while reading; at first it was all in Japanese, but after picking up the
local tongue, I subconsciously started using that instead. When Zenith heard
me utter words, she would pipe up to explain what they meant. This was also

here.
Nobody had said anything as I went
language. Nobody taught me the words I was reading, either. From my

taught, as well as speaking the contents of books aloud.

ink I was a genius.

He was faster to grow up faster in picking things up compared to me or my

older brothers, including speaking and walking. My parents were the sort of

it was nothing that impressive.

I had to keep in mind that, while I might have been a jobless high-
school dropout, I also had the mental age of a person in his mid-thirties. I
could do this!
have

same no matter where you were: Any time a kid shows some inkling of

education for their gifts. In my old life, my parents heaped praise on my

younger brother for being such a genius and gave him a whole bunch of stuff
to learn.
Paul w

knight? They must have agreed to that before I was born.

And so my parents got into a bit of a spat, while Lilia continued calmly
going about her duties. The argument dragged on for a bit, until, as Lilia
 agic in the

That suggestion put the argument to rest, and my silly parents decided

Well, no big deal. I did promise to give it my all in this new life, after all.

***

And so it was decided that a home tutor should be hired for me.
I gathered that the position of personal instructor to a young noble was
a well-paying one. Paul was one of the few knights in the area, which made
him a fairly low-ranking noble himself, so I wondered whether he could offer
competitive pay. We were out in the sticks on the far border of the kingdom,
though, and out on the frontier, high-level talent (especially for something
like a magician) was in short supply. If we put in a request to something like a

My parents also seemed worried by that prospect, but they apparently

found someone promptly, because my lessons were going to start the next
day.
And since there was no inn in our village, my teacher would be living
with us.
My parents were fairly certain that my teacher would be some retired

there was no shortage of jobs for royal magicians back in the capital. As I
understood it, in this world, only Advanced-level magicians taught the arcane
arts. So, whoever we got would at least be an Intermediate- or Advanced-
level adventurer, possibly higher.
red a middle-aged or elderly fellow with many
years of diligent study under his belt, complete with the long beard that was
requisite for such wizards.

My expectations were quite off the mark. The person who showed up
was a young girl, maybe of junior-high age.
She was clad in brown, wizardly robes, her blue hair styled into braids,
her posture prim and proper. Her white skin looked untouched by the sun,
exactly radiate
sociability, and despite her lack of glasses, she looked like the sort of girl who
liked to hole up in a library with her nose in a book.
 In one hand, she carried a bag, and in the other, she held a staff
befitting a magician. The family came to greet her together, my mother
carrying me in her arms.
 My parents looked her over, at a total loss for words. No wonder, really.

so
in years. And instead, here was this little thing.

terribly unusual to me.

Underage. Scornful eyes. Socially awkward. That right there was the
trifecta.
She was perfect.
I wanted her to be my bride.

My parents were fumbling with their words, so I decided to be direct

a

ked,
looking around.

slightly in her arms.

I gave Roxy a cheeky wink. Her eyes went wide, and she sighed once

shows signs of growing up a little fast and the damn parents get it into their

Hey! I heard that, Roxy!

I mean, I totally agreed with her, but still.
 And so, that was the first day of taking classes with Roxy in the
morning and practicing swordplay with Paul in the afternoon.

***

Roxy had taken me into the yard for our first lesson. I gathered that

firsthand what could happen when you let loose with magic inside the house.

Let the vast and blessed waters converge where

thou wilt and issue forth a single pure stream thereof Waterball!
chanted her incantation, an orb of water about the size of a basketball formed
in her palm. Then, she hurtled it at high speed at one of the trees in our yard.
The Waterball snapped the tree in half as if it were a mere twig and

guess.

lways loved that tree and spends a lot of time caring for

With a grunt, she hefted the fallen trunk back into place. Then, red in
the face and straining with exertio Let this
divine power be as satisfying nourishment, giving one who has lost their
strength the strength to rise again
Slowly and surely, the trunk of the tree worked its way back into its
original position. Okay, credit where credit is due: That was pretty amazing.

-
tone was somewhat curt, but the corners of her mouth softened, and her nose
wiggled proudly.
Yeah, she was happy, all right. All it took was laying on some praise.
Man, she was easy to please.

Waterball
went. Roxy had just said it, though.

a single pure stream thereof atter-of-factly. She apparently

figured this was well within my capabilities.
-of-
after hearing it just the once.
before failing to recall the rest, so I cut the incantation short. I conjured a ball
of water just a little smaller and a just a little slower than Roxy had; after all,
if I outdid her, she might get all pouty. Hey, I like to be nice to younger girls.
The basketball-sized Waterball struck its mark with a splash, the tree
creaking and cracking as it fell over. Roxy fixed her gaze on this sight, her
expression stiffening.

-oh. Was I in trouble?

something that should have required a lot more training? Hopefully,

just admonish me for being sloppy with my chanting or something.

now I get it. That

 Finally, Roxy cracked a smile a real one. And then she muttered to

Again, I can still hear you.

through the magic book some more.

outside to see how things were doing. She dropped the beverage-laden tray

at the mangled, toppled tree. Sadness filled her face.

A moment later, that sadness was replaced with livid anger. She
stomped over to Roxy, getting right in her face.

to shift the blame onto a three-year-

murmured.

Zenith went over to the tree and restored it to its former beauty with
her Healing magic before heading back into the house.

down on the ground,

drawing little circles in the dirt.
Wow. She really could not take even the slightest punishment, could
she? I stood next to her and patted her on the shoulder, but said nothing.

really struck up a conversation with anyone in close to twenty years, so I

thing to say in this sort of situation was.
No. I just needed to calm down and think. What would the protagonist
of an adult dating sim say to comfort someone at a time like this?
Okay. I was pretty sure it would go something like this.

Roxy was

-
And so, right from day one, I formed a little bond with Roxy.

***

Afternoons were spent practicing swordplay with Paul.

practice sword suitable for a toddler of my
stature, so our focus was on physical training: running, push-ups, sit-ups, that
sort of thing. According to Paul, getting my body used to moving was the first
priority. On the days he was too busy to train with me, he told me to keep up
with my fundamentals.
Guess dads are like that in every world. I just had to grin and bear it.

-afternoon. That being the case, I

decided to spend my time between then and dinner working on spells.
Adjusting the size of a spell increased the amount of magical power
needed to fuel it. There was the default amount of power a spell took to cast if
you put no conscious effort into it when the incantation finished, and making
a spell larger than that consumed an accordingly greater amount of magical
power. Sort of like the law of conservation of mass.
Curiously, however, making a spell smaller also consumed more
magical power. I wa
a ball of water the size of a fist took less magical energy than creating one the
size of a raindrop. It was weird.

Apparen
 large
spells. If my goal had been simply to use up my magical power, then I

After a while, though, I wanted to move on to actual applications of

magic, so I decided to focus on practicing more precise spellcrafting. I wanted
to make my effects smaller, narrower in scope, more complex: for instance,
creating sculptures out of ice, making my fingertip glow with fire to write on
planks of wood, taking dirt from the backyard and separating it into its
constituent components, locking and unlocking doors, and so on.
Reshaping something that was already hardy and solid was obviously
more difficult. Working to reshape something as hard as metal, for instance,
cost more magical power. Working your magic on something smaller, on
something more intricate, or attempting to work with both speed and
precision at once expended vastly more power as well. The concentration
and effort it took felt like trying to throw a fastball and thread the eye of a
needle at the same time.
I also experimented with using spells from different magical branches
at the same time. This took more than three times the magical expenditure
than using two spells of the same branch did. In other words, trying to be
quick and precise with two spells of differing schools simultaneously was a
great way to blow through all your magical reserves at once.
My training went on like this, day after day, until I reached a point
ves tapped out even after

them up to sufficient levels. Especially for a slacker like I used to be, I

thought.
But I was quick to caution myself. The body goes soft when one slacks
off from their physical training. For all I knew, magic could be the same, and

they stayed that way.

***

One night, while practicing some magic, I heard the lascivious sounds of
a creaking bedframe and lurid moaning coming from somewhere. Well, not
my, were the sounds vigorous. In the not-too-distant future, I might be
welcoming a little brother or sister.
Hopefu

with his bat, smashing my beloved PC

But a kid sister would be nice.

shut people up whenever I was disturbed by sounds like these. Thanks to

that, my older sister stopped bringing guys home entirely. Man, that brought
back memories.
At th
were blights on the world. It reminded me of the people who used to bully
me, sneering down at me from a position out of my reach, filling me with an
anger I had no outlet for. Even if the perpetrator was somehow brought low

It was the worst.

or because it was my parents going at it, or just because I was more focused
on my future, hearing them doing their business actually brightened my
mood. I could tell roughly what they were getting up to just from the sounds.
It seemed that Paul was pretty good in bed, too. Even though Zenith
was out of breath, I h
he went back to thrusting. He sounded like the main character from a pretty
rapey adult dating sim, boundless virility and all.

And one day, I would awaken to my powers, find my heroine, and make my
way into the pink.
That sort of thing excited me at first, but it had recently grown stale,

creaking resonating through the walls. Also, the creaking and moaning would
stop as soon as I approached their room, which was pretty damn amusing.
Tonight was the same. I headed for the toilet, wondering whether I
should let them know that their son, now capable of walking, was there.
Maybe this time I should try saying something. Maybe something like,

Heheheh.
 With that in mind, I slipped out of my room as quietly as I could
except someone was had already beaten me to the punch. The blue-haired
girl was hunched in the dark hallway, peeking into the bedroom through the
gap in the door. Her cheeks were flushed bright red, and her breathing had
sunk to a low, rough panting, her gaze locked on the inside of the room.
One of her hands was inside her robes, moving about rather
suggestively. I quietly crept back to my own room. Roxy was in the grip of

anything.
Or, well, something like that. I definitely liked what I had seen, anyway.

***

Four months later, I was able to cast Intermediate-tier spells. At that

point, Roxy began to give me classroom-style lessons in the evenings.
Uh, that probably makes it sound sexier than it was. This was about
studying, first and foremost. She was a good teacher. She was fussy about

lessons based on how well I understood things. She was good at intuitively
responding to her student. She had a book that acted as a supplement to
Textbook
ly explain it
to me.
It might not sound like much, but I could feel my world opening up.
In my old life, our family hired a personal tutor when my older brother
was taking his entrance exams. One time, on a whim, I listened in on one of
their classes, but

understand and a lot more fun. Her teaching style resonated with me, and got
quick results.
acher was a junior-high-aged girl at
the budding edge of sexual maturity. That was kind of an awesome situation.
In my old life, I could have gotten off to that mental image in three pumps.

***

used in
 Whoa, elves?! Aha! So they do exist!
I could picture them, with their blond hair and greenish garb, bows
strapped across their backs, tentacles keeping them all bound up.
Ahem. Okay, gotta calm down there.

seemed they had long ears.

According to Roxy, long before even the Great Human-Demon War,

when the world was engulfed in the unceasing spiral of battle and chaos, the
High Elves, in order to fight their enemies, entreated with the spirits of the
forests to control the wind and the earth. And thus, the first magic spells
were born.

magic takes its form from humans mimicking the spells the elves used in

are only combat spells because people have mostly only used magic in battle;
for anything else, you can use something close at hand instead of relying on

Ah, I got it. So, we were in that kind of setting, where tools and devices
were simpler to use than magic. That made enough sense.
Granted, silent casting would be easier still.

instance, Summoning
 Magical implements? I was pretty sure I had an idea of what she meant,

them, so even if

Still, it was too bad about Roxy not being able to use Summoning magic. I
understood the principles of Attack magic and Healing magic well enough,

Great Human-Demon War, fiends, spirits. I understood them well enough on

She explained that monsters were the result of sudden mutations in

normal animals. If they were lucky enough to grow in numbers, establish
themselves as a new species, and develop intellect over the generations, they
became fiends. But apparently, many creatures that possessed intelligence
but still attacked humans were referred to as monsters. There were also
cases of fiends growing more savage and brutal over the generations,
reverting back into monsters.

general, though, monsters attacked humans and fiends did not.

evidently had quite a long history.

with one another as recently as four hundred years ago. It started seven
thousand years ago, and the two sides have been in conflict off and on ever

Four hundred years sounded pretty long ago as is, but seven thousand
years of ongoing fighting? Humans and demons must really not get along.
 The simplest way to put

this, too, had its exceptions.

I had a demon for a home tutor. Which I supposed meant that there

way to go, huh?

from the Biegoya Region of the Demon Continent. You must have noticed
your

pretty shade of blue, personally.

say that, for the demonic races, the closer our hair is to green, the
more savage we tend to be. Depending on the lighting, my hair can look

-blue color, and she twirled a finger in her

bangs as she explained herself. Her mannerisms were adorable.

or older women. When I saw people like that, I always thought it was
unusual but there was nothing unusual or off-
locks. If anything, I thought her slightly sleepy-looking eyes helped complete

try to complete in an adult dating sim.

cute girls is what I do.

me, but I still caught the happy look that crossed her face.
 ned by playing hentai

Jokes and lines that were old and played-out back in Japan might well be

what I was trying to get at, either. The point is

that Roxy was cute and naughty and I wanted to push her buttons. The
considerable age gap between us was definitely an issue, though. Maybe
something to think about for the future.

thing seriously.
-
haired demonic race from the Babynos Region, went on a brutal rampage.

friend and foe alike, becoming as violent as they were despised. They were so
dangerous that, after the war, persecution drove them almost completely
from the
Their own allies pushed them away after the war? Wow.

demon settlements and slaughtering the women and children, or wiping out
all of their foes on the battlefield and then turning to do the same to their

too late, or the Superd will come and e

It almost sounded like she was talking about the Putaway Man, the
boogeyman from that old anime.

probably tell you something like this soon enough, but if you ever see
someone with emerald-green hair and what looks like a red jewel set in their
forehead, make sure you don
 Emerald-green hair and a red jewel in the forehead? She must have
been describing the Superd to me.

asked.

something else to do, and get out of there. If you bolt all of a sudden, you

Spotting some punk and making a run for it just invited the chase, huh?

tantly degrading, then there

commonly accepted in human culture versus demon culture, so you might

obliquely sarc
Hmm. These guys must have some incredible tempers. Roxy had said

basis. I mean, if their anger was scary enough to warn other people to stay
away from them yikes.

I figured it was best to do everything I could to steer clear. These Superd

were really bad news.

***
 Roughly another year went by. My magic lessons were proceeding
apace. I could now use Advanced-tier spells from all different branches of
magic.
All without using incantations, too, of course.

nose. By which I mean there were a lot of ranged attacks and they felt pretty
awkward to use. Like, what was I going to do with the ability to make it rain
over a wide area?
But then I remembered how, after a prolonged drought, Roxy had made
it rain over the wheat fields, to the great joy of the villagers. I

Evidently, Roxy had handled multiple requests from the townsfolk and
had been solving their problems. I could almost hear it now:
n the ground! Help me,

I was guessing that was (probably) how it went.

My first instinct was to write her off as greedy, but the townspeople

of thing for them before, and they deeply appreciated Roxy for it. I guessed
this was what they called give and take.

someone out of a bind without asking for anything in return was a very
Japanese one. It was normal to get compensated for that sort of thing. It just
made sense.
 Granted, being the shut-in I was in my past life, not only did I not help
anyone else out of a bad situation, I was the bad situation for the rest of my
family.

***

One day, out of the blue, I decided to ask Roxy,

I had enough talent to be better than Roxy? It was enough to make me

blush.

they can teach you, but still butts in with their advice on each and every thing

with herself whenever she advised me on things; I probably had quite the
grin on my own face when plying her with compliments.

Wow, did Roxy seriously just say that to me? I felt sort of bad for her.

omeone.
 -pupil relationship with such an

She shot me down real quick; it looked like my bond with my master

as my master regardless. After all, she was a girl who still had some traces of
youth and could properly te
 Chapter 5:
Swords and Sorcery

I was now five.

yearly celebration in these lands. At ages five, ten, and fifteen, it was
cu
fifteen, so that made a lot of sense.
Paul gifted me with a pair of swords for my birthday. One was a real
sword, too long and heavy for a five-year-old to wield; the other was a short
practice sword. The real sword had been properly tempered and bore a fine

started a long, rambling

stream of advice, and I just smiled and nodded.
His spiel had a friendly and energetic air to it, but in the end, even
Zenith chided him for going on too long. Admonished, he smiled and wrapped

The man clearly wanted me to have the self-awareness and preparation

to be able to carry a sword around.

she handed it to me.

It was a botanical encyclop
Books in this world were quite expensive. They had the means to make

The encyclopedia was a thick volume, complete with helpful

illustrations and easy-to-understand descriptions. I could only imagine how
much it must have cost.

With that, Zenith drew me into a tight hug.

Roxy gifted me with a wand. It was a stick, roughly thirty centimeters
long, set with a small red stone at the tip.

rod or wand for a pupil who can use elementary magic. My apologies for
reluctant to buck the traditions of the role.

Roxy grimaced.

***

The following day, I began actually training with the sword, focusing on
practice swings and fundamental forms. We had a wooden practice dummy in
our yard that I used to practice my forms and my strikes. My father helped
me with my footwork, my balance, and the like. It felt really good, getting into
the real meat and potatoes of swordplay.
Knowing how to wield a sword was crucial in this world. Even the
heroes who appeared in books mostly wielded swords. Some used axes or
hammers, but they were in a distinct minority. No one used spears, because
the despised Superds made use of tridents; it was commonly thought that the
spear was a weapon of evil. When a spear appeared in a story, it was usually
wielded by the wickedest of villains, the kind who would devour friend and
foe alike, who would slaughter indiscriminately.
Given that background, the art of the blade was far more advanced in
this world than it was in my old one. A master swordsman could cleave a
boulder in a single stroke, or unleash a flash of the blade to strike a distant
foe.
Paul had enough skill to accomplish the first one. I wanted to know the
principles behind it, so he demonstrated it several times while praising and
encouraging me. He probably felt pretty good having his young, Advanced-
magic-using son clapping and cheering for him.
Still, no matter h
how he did it. So I asked for an explanation.
hngh, and then fwam

hmph, and then a wham! I

said hngh and then fwam!
And so it went.
This was just conjecture on my part, but it seemed to me that, in this
world, magic was woven into the art of swordplay. It was visibly different
from the flashy magical effects created by spellcraft, and instead worked by
itself. How else would it be possible to move at such blinding speeds or slice a
huge rock in two?

how he did what he did. It meant that once I was able to reproduce what he

it.

***

In this world, there were three primary schools of swordplay.

First was the Sword God Style. This style maintained that the best
defense was a good offense and focused on high-speed moves with the goal of
ideally finishing the fight with a single blow. If
the opponent was still standing, the practitioner would continue to strike and
feint back until they were victorious. If I had to compare it to something from
my old world, the closest thing would be Satsuma Jigen-ryu.
Second was the Water God Style, the polar opposite of Sword God: It
was a defensive form, focused on warding off strikes and then countering. Its

practitioner many openings for attack, but a true master would be able to
unleash a counterstrike to any attack coming their way and I do mean any
attack, including projectiles and magical attacks. Given its focus on
protection, this was the sword style of choice for royal guards and nobles.
Last was the North God Style. This was less a sword form than a general
us on specific moves, but allowed the user to
adapt to different situations on the fly. According to Paul, this ad hoc
approach involved a lot of cheap tricks and clever ploys, but mastering the
style yielded truly fantastical results. The image I got was of a sword-
wielding version of Jackie Chan. Because this style taught one to treat injuries
and allowed for fighting even with imperfect posture, it was the favored
school for mercenaries and adventurers.
Together, these were known as the Three Great Styles, and each had
adherents the world over. It was said that a swordsman who wanted to push
their skill to the ultimate limit would knock on the door of each school and
continue training until they were dead though few people actually did this.

train in until proficient.

 In reality, while Paul chiefly practiced Sword God Style, there was a
smattering of Water God and North God elements included in there. It
seemed that most peo
exclusively adhere to one style or another.
As with magic, swordsmanship was broken into the following levels of
skill: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Saint, King, Imperial, and Divine. The

of its school; the first swordsman of the Water God School, for example, was
able to use Divine-level water spells. Having a Divine rank in both sword
expertise and magical competence made for an obscenely powerful warrior.
Also, it was typical when referring to swordsmen to address them as

example, -

***

Paul decided that I would learn both the Sword God Style and Water
God Style: the former to get a good handle on offense and the latter for
defense.
ke

Great Styles. Either that, or Paul just

sword as well. You want to be a magician who can fend off an attack from
someone who

warrior who picked up magic or as a magician who did it the other way

worked on my swordplay, I could adapt it to my use of magic.

 st my

either needed to acquire the ability myself or attain it via the right physical
training. I needed to figure out the principle at work.
For a moment, Paul was lost in thought, an uneasy expression on his

Was he saying that just because I had an aptitude for magic? He must

wrong: I had no problem practicing how to use a sword. I just preferred time
alone with Roxy studying magic over getting dirty and sweaty with another
guy in the yard.
I was an indoors sort of guy.

decided to put my best effort into my second shot at life, and that meant
trying my best at magic and the sword alike.

Paul flushed with pride and nodded happily as he brought his wooden
practice sword to
He was a simple man.

good bond with my parents while I was young.

house.
I needed to be better to my parents this time around.

***

While I was taking my first steps in sword training, my magical studies

were taking on a more technical and practical bent.
 By using spells from different schools in succession, it was possible to
create other phenomena. This was known as Combined Magic. A Textbook of
Magic included a spell for making rain, but had nothing about creating mist.
Therefore, magicians had to use spells from multiple schools in sequence.
This allowed for the reproduction of various natural phenomena.

discovered all of the principles that governed the natural world. Combined
Magic contained all the creative genius of the great wizards of old.
er with that kind of nonsense. If I wanted to

ground as possible. The idea of intentionally creating a natural phenomenon

was simple enough to understand. With a little outside-the-box thinking, you
could do all sorts of things.
For me, personally, that was a bit easier said than done.

much. Just keep a cool,

to get hit with

asked.

They said that maybe only one in twenty people could learn to fight.
And to find a magician among them had the same twenty-to-one odds. So,
four-hundred-to-one odds of finding a capable magician, then.

graduate from magic school, becoming Advanced-tier magic

 That meant that Advanced-tier magicians were a one-in-forty-thousand
deal. If we included Beginner and Intermediate spells in the mix, the number
of things Combined Magic could do increased dramatically which in turn
made it so popular. To be a magic tutor around these parts, one needed to be
at the Advanced tier or higher.
Steep requirements, but they yielded powerful results.

magic school? Huh. Should I give that a

try? Move on to my schoolboy arc?

Whoa, they even had universities for that sort of thing?

It sounded like these other Ranoan magic schools would allow a child
of noble birth like myself to attend, but could deny entry on the basis of
someone not being human. Discrimination against demons was lessening in
modern days, but strong prejudices still lingered.

or misplaced pride. As long as

you out for being on the eccentric side, and they accept students of all
different races. The different races even carry out individual research on
n taking your
magical education further, Rudy, I can highly recommend the University of

Way to talk up her own alma mater. I was getting ahead of myself

out of me.
knight who have also attended the Universit
choice is an exclusive one between swords or sorcery. You could always

Well then. It sounded like Roxy felt the opposite of Paul, worried that I
ately, my magical reserves had been increasing,

been forced to take classes starting at age three. She

grown sick of it over the last two years.
Paul saw in me a talent for magic; Roxy saw in me a passion for the
sword. With these differing ideas, they were pointing me toward a middle
path.

Wait graduation?
 Chapter 6:
Reasons for Respect

I
After a point, that became intentional on my part.
I was afraid.
When I stepped into the yard and looked at the world beyond,
memories came flooding back to me: memories of that day. The ache in my
side. The chill of the rain. Regret. Despair. The pain of being hit by that truck.
It was as vivid as if it had been yesterday. My legs trembled.
I was able to look out the window. I was able to step into our yard. But I
could not bring myself to go farther.
And I knew why.
This serene pastoral landscape that stretched out before me could turn
into hell in an instant. As peaceful as the scenery looked, it would never
accept me.
In my past life, whil
fantasize about Japan suddenly getting caught up in a war. And then a hot girl

rise to the challenge.

That fantasy was my e
just a normal guy. Just
a normal guy, doing normal things, living a normal life for himself.
ook one step

find myself right back in that moment of crushing despair, battered by the
waves of my many regrets.
it was
a VRMMORPG, but no. This is reality, I told myself. I knew it was. Reality,
and not a dream.

home.
No matter how I tried to reassure myself, no matter how much I
promised myself aloud, my body would not obey.
I wanted to cry.
 ***

The graduation ceremony was to take place outside the village, Roxy
informed me.

need to venture into the world beyond. My body refused to comply, though. It
still remembered too much from before.
It remembered my old life. Getting beaten up by punks. Being laughed
at uproariously. Experiencing tremendous heartbreak. Having no choice but
to become a shut-in.

Roxy frowned dubiously at all my hemming and hawing about not wanting to

-
played Derby Stallion and everything.
do act your age

g I was afraid
of horses. And I still had my sense of pride my minuscule, out-of-touch-
with-reality sense of pride.
Really, all I wanted was to not have a little girl like her make fun of me.

shoulder.
but another part of me felt like I should just accept being bodily whisked
away.
Roxy hoisted me atop the horse and clambered up behind me. She took
the reins, tugged at them, and the horse cantered off, leaving the house
behind.

arther than my own yard. Roxy slowly

guided us through the village. From time to time, villagers would shoot sharp,
unabashed stares in my direction.
Oh, please, no, I thought. Those looks were as scary as ever especially
that glint of sneering superiority

know me. How could they? The only people who knew me in this entire
world were the ones in that tiny little house.
So why were they looking at me? Quit staring at me, I grumbled
inwardly. Get back to work.
But
It was Roxy.
And some of the townsfolk, I noticed, were bowing to her. And then it
hit me: Roxy had made a name for herself in the village, even with the
sizeable prejudice against demons in this kingdom. And we were out in the
countryside, so those attitudes were even more pronounced. In the span of
two years, Roxy had become someone that people here were willing to bow
to.
With that realization, I sensed the trustworthy presence Roxy had
become. She knew the way, and clearly knew the people we were passing by.

manage to become someone of such high esteem? The tension ebbed from my
body at that thought.
mood, thoug
chest pressing against the back of my head. It felt nice.
Just what had I been so afraid of? Why would anyone in this quiet
village want to mock me for anything?

I shook my head. The looks from the villagers no longer frightened me

surroundings. Fields spread out as far as I could see, with houses dotted here
and there. It definitely had the feel of a farming village.

a windmill for it to look like Switzerland or something.

been alone
a tad awkward.

Vatirus flowers and some vegetables as well. In the capital, Vatirus flowers

I continued asking questions like that. Today, Roxy said, would be my

final exam which would mean the end of her role as my tutor. And knowing
how impatient Roxy could be, she might leave my home as early as
tomorrow. If that was the case, today was our last chance to spend time
together. I figured I should talk to her while I still could.

asking more questions about my village.

According to Roxy, we lived in Buena Village, which was located in the
Fittoa Region, in the northeastern part of the Asura Kingdom. At present,
there were over thirty households here, working the farmland. My father,
Paul, was a knight who had been deployed to the village. His job was to watch
over the townsfolk to ensure they were carrying out their work properly,
adjudicate any disputes, and protect the village from monster attacks. In
short, he was basically a publicly sanctioned bodyguard.
That being said, the young men in the village also took turns guarding
it, so Paul spent most of his afternoons at home after he made his morning
rounds. Ours was a pretty peaceful village, leaving him with little work to do.
As Roxy filled me in on these details, the wheat fields grew scant. I
stopped asking her questions, and the silence resumed for a while. The rest of
our journey would take roughly another hour.
Soon, the fields of wheat were completely gone, leaving us to travel
through empty grassland.

***

We continued our way across the plains, bound for the flat horizon.
No I could faintly see mountains in the distance. If nothing else, this

Mongolian steppes in a geography textbook or something.

next to a solitary tree. She dismounted and tied the reins to the tree.
Then, she picked me up and helped me down, putting us face to face.
-

I was going to be using Water Saint-tier magic. Now I got it: This was
my final examination. Roxy was going to use the most powerful spell she had

taught me all she could.

fter a
 rt people or cause

Wow. Rain so powerful it could damage crops? This sounded

incredible.

magnificent waters, I beseech the Prince of Thunder! Grant me my wish, bless

me with thy savagery, and reveal to this insignificant servant a glimpse of thy
power! Let fear strike the heart of man as thy divine hammer strikes its anvil
and cover the land with water! Come, oh rain, and wash everything away in thy
flood of destruction
She chanted steadily, slowly, and purposefully. It took her just over a
minute to complete her incantation.
A moment later, our surroundings grew dark. For several seconds,
there was nothing then, a pelting rain began to fall. A terrific wind roared,
accompanied by black clouds that flickered with lightning. Amidst the
pouring sheets of rain, the sky began to rumble, and purple light shot through
the clouds. With each new flash, the lightning increased in power. It was
almost as if the light itself was taking on a palpable weight, growing with a
swell and ready to come right
down.
The lightning struck the tree next to us. My eardrums rang, and my
vision went painfully white.
Roxy let out a yelp of alarm at the near miss. A mere moment later, the

muttered as she rushed over to the tree, her face pale.

When my vision returned, I saw that the horse had collapsed, smoke
rising from its body. Roxy set her hands on t
began to chant.
and restore the vigor to his body X-

o death, then: An Intermediate-tier Healing

s only
horse! Paul dutifully tended to it every day and would occasionally take it out

impressive pedigree or anything, but Paul and that horse had been through a
lot over the years.

Of course, having spent the last two years living with us, Roxy was well
d as she
spied on Paul and the horse, only to then shrink away.

her eyes.
She was a klutz. Near misses and scrapes like this were a common
occurrence with her. Still, she gave things her all. I knew she stayed up late
every night to plan lessons for me, and I knew that she tried her hardest to

marry her.

I mean, I would have liked to be within at least a decade of her, age-

wise.
Despite being on the edge of tears, Roxy quickly shook her head,
slapped h

The horse still looked frightened, ready to bolt at any moment, but
Roxy stepped in front of him, blocking his path with her tiny body. She

creature grew more docile. Roxy held her position and muttered an
incantation under her breath.
Both of them were engulfed by a wall of earth, which proceeded to
grow into an earthen dome not unlike an igloo. This was the Advanced-tier
earth spell Earth Fortress. That ought to suffice to keep them safe from the
thunderstorm.

How did the incantation go again? Ah, yes.

waters, I beseech the Prince of Thunder! Grant me my wish, bless me with thy
savagery, and reveal to this insignificant servant a glimpse of thy power! Let
fear strike the heart of man as thy divine hammer strikes its anvil and cover the
land with water! Come, oh rain, and wash everything away in thy flood of
destruction Cumulonimbus!
 I got the words out in a single breath, and the clouds began to billow
and swell.
Now I understood the nature of the Cumulonimbus spell: In addition to
conjuring clouds overhead, you simultaneously had to handle a complex
series of motions to turn them into thunderclouds or something to that
effect. You had to continually funnel magic into the spell or the clouds would
stop moving and dissipate. Leaving the magic aside, it was going to suck
having to stand here with both hands raised for over an hour.

a pose like this for an hour to pull things off. I had to remember: This was a

needed to use some form of Combined Magic to keep the spell maintained.
This was the moment of truth. I needed to call
TV once. So, when clouds are

Some of the clouds Roxy had created earlier still lingered. If I

remembered right, I could conjure a horizontal whirlwind of air and warm
the air beneath it to create an updraft. And then, if I cooled the air above the

In doing all that, I wound up burning through half my magical reserves.

t had to see if it would last an hour.
Satisfied, I headed back to the dome Roxy had created, rain pouring down on
me as thunder rumbled in the skies above.

hands. Upon seeing me, she

to control

-
your spell fu
realized something. At this, the dome began to crumble.
Hey now, remembe

The cumulo
without limit.
Not bad, if I said so myself.
TV special that went into the science

retained a
to create something similar enough.

wide area, then warmed the air above in order to create a downward current,
ultimately using some wind magic to scatter the clouds.
Once I was done, Roxy and I stood there, the two of us drenched to the

aside her wet bangs, an all-too-rare grin on her face.

As soon as I realized that, a curious sensation welled up from within me. And
I knew what it was. A sense of accomplishment.
For the first time since coming to this
my first step.
The following day, Roxy stood in the entryway to our house in her
traveling gear, the spitting image of the person who had arrived two years
bout the only
thing that had changed was that I was taller.

an end, but

Here were my parents, trying to keep Roxy from leaving. Unbeknownst

; her

whose circumstances only changed when the main character did something.

. And

uncomfortable.

ad!

-tier

capable of eve
reached into the folds of her robe, fumbled around, and pulled out a pendant
strung with a leather cord. It was made of a metal that shone with a green
to

you a hard time, show them this and mention my name, and they should ease

Then, at the very, very end, Roxy flashed a little smile, and departed.
Before I knew it, I was crying.

through with A Textbook of Magic in one hand.

More than anything, though, she took me outside.
She took me outside. That was it. Such a simple thing. It was Roxy

get along well with strangers. Roxy, a demon whom the villagers should have
considered beneath their notice.
Not Paul. Not Zenith. Roxy was the one who took me to the outside
world, and that meant something.
I say that she took me to the outside world, when really, all she did was
take me across town. Still, the prospect of leaving home had definitely been a
just by taking me through

h because of her.

at the front gate and taken just one step beyond it. And right there was the
ground. Just the ground, and nothing more. My anxieties had left me.
Now, I was capable of walking outside on my own.

even my parents or siblings from my past life. She

courage.
knew that, too. But I respected her.
Young as she was, I respected her.

view. In my hands, I clutched the wand an

Then I realized: Up in my room I still had a pair of her used panties that

Sorry about that, Roxy.

 Chapter 7:
Friends

I decided to try going outside. After all, Roxy had shown me I could

Children my age were prone to wandering as soon as you took your

worry my parents by slipping away without saying anything.

I thought of Paul as a strict father who was worried too much about his
-
expected him to demand I spend all day working on my swordsmanship. It
was almost a letdown.

or anything.

and made a funny face.

childish that worry me

posited.
 -
And wait did he just call himself a brat?
f you really want to be worthy of the Greyrat family, go out there and

Wait
charged with protecting a frontier town in addition to being a low-ranking
noble? Did we have no social standing at all? No, I guess we were just really
low-ranking.

ng

That was actually good advice. Man, I wish my brothers from my past
life could have heard that.
But Paul was right; power wielded for its own sake was meaningless.

understand, Father; power should be reserved for when you can make girls

n was going?
Heheh. Whoops!

With that conversation concluded, I tucked my botanical encyclopedia

headed out. Before I got far, though, I stopped and turned, remembering one

neglect my daily magic and sword studies either. And I promise to be home

Look, if
 And then, I left home.

***

Things were going pretty well. I was even able to exchange greetings with
passersby without mumbling my way through.
People knew about me that I was the son of Paul and Zenith, and

properly and introduce myself. People I was meetin

Everyone greeted me back, bright smiles on their faces. It had been a long

helped me feel so comfortable. The rest was all thanks to what Roxy had done
for me. Which meant, I guess, that Roxy was to thank for the bulk of it.

***

My main goal in going outside was to go exploring on my own two feet

and get the lay
I ever got kicked out of my house.
At the same time, I also wanted to carry out some botanical
investigations. I had my encyclopedia, after all, so I wanted to make sure I
could tell which p
as medicine and which were poisonous. That way, if I ever got kicked out of

Roxy had only taught me the basics, but by my understanding, our

village grew wheat, vegetables, and the fragrant ingredients of perfumes. The
Vatirus flower, used in those perfumes, was very similar to lavender: pale
purple and edible.
With a visually striking specimen like that as my test case, I started
using the botanical encyclopedia to cross-reference whichever plants caught
my eye.

have particularly notable flora. After a few days of basically nothing, I

expanded my search radius and made my way closer to the forest. There
were a lot more plants there, after all.

concentrations of magic meant a higher likelihood of monsters coming into

being, the energies causing sudden mutations in otherwise benign creatures.

In addition to monsters being fairly rare in these parts, we also had

regular monster hunts, making things even safer. A monster hunt was exactly
what it sounded like: Once a month, a group of young men, made up of
knights, hunters, and the local militia, would head into the woods and clear
some monsters out.
Apparently, though, monsters that were quite dreadful could suddenly

to do battle against such things. But I was a former shut-

no actual

thing well, in manga, anyway.

-blooded type. As far as I was concerned, combat

run back home and let Paul know.

Yeah, that was a good plan.
With that in mind, I made my way up a small hill. At the top stood a
lone tree, the largest one around. A high vantage point like this would be
perfect for confirming the layout of my village. Also, this being the biggest
tree in the area, I wanted to see what type it was.

At the sound of that voice, painful memories came flooding back. I

remembered my time in high school, and what had led to my becoming a
shut-
These voices reminded me so very much of the voices that had called
me by that terrible nickname. These were the voices of someone who used
the numbers on their side to torment somebody beneath them.
 rain. Three boys with their
bodies all caked in mud were hurling mud at another boy who was walking
along.

Yikes. This was not good. This was classic bullying right here. These

they would have turned it on this kid and opened fire. The directions always
said n
see their targets as people. They were abhorrent.
Their target could have quickly shuffled on his way, but for some
reason, he was dawdling. I looked more closely and saw that he had
something like a basket clutched to his chest, which he hunched over to keep
its contents safe from the balls of mud being hurled his way. It was keeping

I broke into a run, heading for the boy. Along the way, I used my magic
to form a ball of mud, and the instant I was in firing range, I hurled it with all
my might.
Whap!

His buddies all turned their attention to me at once.

this were the same in every world.

a haughty sneer.
 The other boys steeled themselves, drawing themselves up as if they

Uh-

for their friends!

But no one showed up.
Even still, my legs were locked in place. Sure, there were three of them,
but it felt so pathetic, freezing up at having kids shout at me. Was mine just
destined to be the saga of a bullied shut-in?
- -to-one you

Their faces screwed up in confusion. Ugh. Dammit.

blurted.
I was pissed off, so I hurled another mudball their way.
I missed.

footwork Paul had taught me, as well as a bit of magic, I was able to dodge the
volley rather gracefully.

The three boys continued to throw balls of mud my way for a while
hrew
 -

decided to stop. With that, the little punks headed off for the other end of the
field.

Er, not to brag or anything.

The boy was so pretty it was hard to think we were around the same
age. He had rather long eyelashes for someone so young, with a dainty little
nose, thin lips, and a somewhat pointed jawline. His skin was porcelain white,
and his features combined to give him the look of a startled rabbit, in
addition to a sense of unspeakable beauty.

that.
-looking. And Zenith looked really good. Which
meant my face was fine. Certainly compared to my face in my past life, all
flabby and marked with pimples. So, yeah, I was pretty good-looking. Yeah.
-
He made me want to protect and care for him, as if he were some small
an
soaked on the spot er, well, if you could get past the way he was all caked in
mud.
His clothes were filthy, and mud clung to half of his face. The top of his
head was basically a un
managed to keep his basket safe.

n as he began to do as I
said. Guess he was the sort of kid who did what he was told. If he were the
defiant sort, he would have fought back against those bullies earlier.
He crawled over to the irrigation ditch, hunched on all fours as he
peered into the
currently have a definite throbbing in your pants, too.
water to an appropriate temperature: neither too hot nor too cold, but a nice,

I grabbed his collar as he squirmed and tried to get away, and

proceeded to wash away the mud. He struggled at first, but as he got used to
, he started to calm down. As for his clothes, those
would have to be laundered at home.

used fire magic to create hot wind, like an air dryer, then took a handkerchief
to careful
 In doing so, I could finally see his pointed, elf-like ears, as well as the
emerald green hair he sported. I immediately remembered something Roxy
had told me.
see someone with emerald-

-green hair and what looks like a

red jewel set in their forehead, make sure y

forehead, however, was nothing but a smooth and pretty white.

-thank

He was kinda giving me the tingles there.

Ah, so that was it. If he fought back, those kids would call for their
gh beating. No matter what world you
lived in, that was a thing. Roxy had put in a lot of effort, so the grown-ups
seemed to have accepted demons, but not the children. Kids could be so cruel.
have it
rough, getting bullied just because the color of your hair makes you look like

had told me that the Migurd and Superd were closely related. Maybe his race
was, too.

-
 The child of a half-elf and a quarter-beastman? Did that explain his hair,
then?
m-
-
mo
He started to sob, and I reached over to reassuringly pat his head. If his

color the only thi

ld myself, so I wanted to do
something for him. Also, I just felt so bad for him, being bullied just for having
green hair.

could change how

on the roadside just because his hair was a bit green. Ugh.
Just thinking of it was enough to piss me off again.

Hmm. His tone of voice indicated that he was telling the truth. Then

-
 His father was a half-elf, yeah? When elves turned up in stories, they
tended to be long-lived and isolationist people with haughty dispositions
who looked down on other races. They were skilled with the bow and also
with magic. Water and wind magic were their forte. Oh, and they had long
ears, of course.

isolation
Were the majority of elven men and women super-gorgeous in this
world, too? No, no. Thinking of elves as all being super-gorgeous was a crass
Japanese preconception. The elves in Western games had faces that were too
ok particularly gorgeous at all. Guess
Japanese otaku and foreign normies had different sensibilities.
In the case of this boy here, though, it was a given that his parents were
hot.

mannerisms evoking more of that protective instinct in me.

Maybe so. It was a common story: getting bullied for helping out a
victim of bullying.

Our chips were in the same pile now. The chain of bullying grew when
the person being helped turned on their helper instead of being grateful and
repaying that kindness. Granted, the reason for this kid being victimized was

bullies.

- id expression and a shake of the

head. Man, he really did have quite the face. If you were a shota fangirl

You know, this might work out nicely, him having a face like that. He
was sure to draw in plenty of girls once he grew up, and if I stuck with him,

special, but if you took two guys and stood them next to each other, the better
one of them looked, the more ordinary-looking the other guy appeared. And
so girls who were less confident in themselves were sure to try for me.
 This could work. It was like how pretty girls kept ugly ones nearby so
everyone would notice how pretty they were, but in reverse.

second part. Sylph, huh?

***

hair that almost glittered, and he was slender without lacking muscle
definition. Certainly, he lived up to the name of half-elf, having inherited the
best parts of both elf and human.
He stood guard at a watchtower on the edge of the forest, a bow in one

Sylph turned to look my way, and I bowed slightly.

to keep monsters from making it out of the forest, and was staffed by men
from the village around the clock. Naturally, Paul was on the roster as well,

about their respective children.

from further
 Those are impressive words for

word.

While we were talking, I felt a tug at the hem of my shirt. I looked, and
Sylph was clutching it, his head cast down. I guessed a grown-up
conversation like this was boring for children.

Well, that went without saying. I felt like there should have been more
ground rules than that.

go play around there. I promise Sylph will head back home before it gets
dark. And once your kid gets home, could you look out in the direction of that

cell phones in this world. Establishing

proper communication was important. It was impossible to avoid all
potential trouble, but bouncing back quickly from problems was also
important. This kingdom seemed fairly safe, but there was no telling where
dangers might be lurking.
With one look back at Laws, who was a bit dumbfounded, Sylph and I

asked.

struggled to get the

Sylph wrung his hands together and gazed up at me. We were roughly
the same height, but because he kept himself hunched over, he had to look up
properly.
-er-

eventually. That was part of growing up.

sploosh from your hands,

and when you made that nice warm wind like whoosh

expending, to say nothing of what the baseline was for people here. But then,

conjure hot water without an incantation, but with Combined Magic, anyone
ably fine. Probably.

And so, Sylph and I played until the sun went down.

***

When I got back home, Paul was furious.

He stood imposingly in the entryway, hands set on his hips in an
expression

discovered.
 t ring a bell, so

introductions.

Aha. Now I got it. Come to think of it, that kid had said something about
how he was gonna let everyone know I was a demon-
that turned into him lying about me punching him, but either way, he was
determined to badmouth me.

ething

dad had clearly bought it. Crap. At this point, even if I told the truth about me

Still, all I could do was explain what happened from the very beginning.

hearing me out.
air

any younger brother or sister he might well make for me.

 Whap! A hot jolt of pain shot through my cheek.
He hit me.

around twenty years. No

my house, so that made five years, I supposed.

had intended to strike me. There was a distinct look of consternation in his
eyes.

to keep your mind at ease and to get you to trust me, Father. Yo

Hurt? That was news to me. Had I done that to him? If I had, maybe he
was using it

anyway.

Oh, now he was suddenly curious? Hey, it was his own fault for

Paul

round knows that the Greyrats

take pride in bullying and ganging up on the weak. But once I grow up and
anyone know I belonged to a family so horrid they ignored actual violence

Paul fell dead silent. His face turned red, then went pale, and there was
conflict in his expression. Was he going to be mad? Or had I still not pushed
him over the edge?

even one solid point to make, this might end in a draw, but justice is on my side

Yeah, see? Digging your heels in just makes things worse for the both of
us. Remember, when you do something wrong, the first thing you do is
apologize.
Relieved, I explained the details of the situation as objectively as I
could. I was making my way up the hill when I heard voices. There were three
boys in an empty field pelting mud at another boy walking along the road. I
hit them with mud once or twice until they backed down, and then they left
while badmouthing me. Then, I used magic to clean the mud off the one boy,
and we played together.

Talking to
you makes one feel like an underqualified parent
scolding me been him trying to show more of his paternal side?

is wrong, by all means, scold me as you like. All I ask is that you hear me out

in the first place, but

 -deprecatingly. The man was clearly in
poor spirits.
Had I gone too far? I mean, losing an argument to your five-year-old

young to be a father.

-four

like monsters and war and such being an everyday occurrence, that sounded
pretty appropriate.
A man more than a decade my junior had gotten married, had a kid, and
was now struggling with how to raise him. Given my thirty-four-year-history

of anything.
Ah, well.

Satisfied with that response, I headed into the house with my father. I

Paul

My son was angry. The boy had never been one to display much
overt emotion, but here he was, silently fuming. How did it come to this?
It started that afternoon, when Mrs. Eto came by our house, furious. She
brought along her son Somal, considered one of the neighborhood brats.
There was a blue bruise around one of his ey

had punched hers. When I heard that, I was inwardly relieved.

Ordinarily, I might have assumed my son had been playing outside,
caught sight of Somal and his buddies playing, and tried to join them. But my

-and-mighty, the other kids had fired back,

for his age, but he was still a kid, after all.

 Mrs. Eto continued to get red in the face and then went pale as she tried
to make this out to be a major bust-up, when it was just a quarrel among

end of it.
Children were bound to get into scuffles that turned to blows at some
point, but Rudeus was far more powerful than other children. Not only had

since he was three. Any fight he got into was sure to be one-sided.
Things had gone okay this time, but if he ever got too hot-headed, he
might wind up overdoing it. A smart kid like Rudeus ought to be able to deal
with someone like Somal without throwing a punch. I needed to teach him
that punching someone was a rash thing to do, and he needed to give it more
thought before resorting to it.
I needed to give him a bit of a harsh scolding.
That had been the plan, anyway. How did it go so wrong?
My son had no intention of apologizing to me whatsoever. Rather, he
looked at me like one might look at an insect.

equal footing. But when someone has powers like his, they need to be aware

apologize. He was a smart kid. He might not understand now, but I was sure

With that in mind, I took a firm tone to ask what had happened, only for
him to respond with condescension and sarcasm. It galled me, and in the heat
of the moment, I struck him. And here I was, trying to teach him a lesson

weaker than them.

trying t
moments earlier myself. While I struggled with my rattled composure, my

I almost told him right there to go ahead, go, but I managed to resist the
urge. I had to. I was from a strict family myself, with an overbearing father

to the point where we had a huge fight that ended with me storming out of
the house.
 the blood of a stubborn, unyielding

he could be. He was definitely my kid.

When I was told to get out, I gave my old man some tit for tat and did

grew up before leaving home, but if I told him to get out right now, I bet he
would. I was sure it was in his nature.
I heard that, not long after I left, my father took ill and died. And I heard
he regretted our big fight until the very end. And I was glad to hear it.
No
that, as well.

on the day my child was born, I decided that I would never be a father like
mine.

naturally.
Ru

could hardly be called a proper fight.

If wha
thing, something he should be proud of. But instead of being praised for his

When I was young, my father did the same thing to me so many times,
never listening to my side of things and always blaming me for not being a
perfect son. Each time it happened, I felt so miserable and helpless.

t blame me for it. He even consoled me in the end. He

was a good kid. Almost too good. Was I even really his father? No Zenith

enough to produce a child like him. Man, I never expected my seed would
bear such strong fruit.
More than pride, though, what I felt was an ache in my gut.

For now, I could at least be happy that my son had made his first friend.
 Chapter 8:
Obliviousness

I was now six. My day-to-

fieldwork, or practice magic under the tree on the hill.
been experimenting with ways to augment my

swing, create a shockwave to quickly turn myself around, turn the ground to
ike.

two ways to get better at fighting games: keep practicing to improve, or find a
different way to beat your opponent with your inferior skills.
Right now, I was only thinking of the latter. Defeating Paul was the
challenge at hand. Paul was a tough guy. He might have a ways to go in the
parenting department, but as a swordsman, he was first-rate. If I were to
focus on the first method, and hone my physique to an absurd degree, I was
sure I could beat him someday.

would be thirty- -
for
anything. Defeating someone far older than you just got brushed off with

Defeating Paul while he was still in his prime that would mean
something. Right now, he was twenty-five years old. He might have retired
from the frontlines, but he was currently at his physical peak. I wanted to
beat him at least once within the next five years. With the blade, if possible,
but if that proved unfeasible, then at least in a close-combat situation where I
could weave my magic into the mix.

***
things off: like a couple, where one would wait for the other before we began.
Back when we first started playing, Somal or some other local punks
would come by. Sometimes older kids school-aged or in their early teens

would come by my house to yell at me.

in castigating children as she was fond of Paul. She was using scuffles
between little kids as an excuse to come and see him. She was absurd. At the

all. Sorry for doubting him.

I think they came after us about five times. Then, one day, they stopped

by, but neither side ever said

With that, the issue seemed to be resolved, and the tree on top of the
hill became our territory.

***

Anyway, less about those punks and more about Sylph.

picked up a bit of spellcraft, he could fend off bullies by himself.

In the beginning, Sylph was only able to cast five or six entry-level
spells before getting short of breath, but a year had gone by, and his magical
reserves had grown significantly. Now, he could train for half the day without
an issue.

magical reserves anymore.

Still, there was work needed on the spells themselves. Sylph was
especially poor with fire. He could handle wind and water magic quite deftly,
but fire was his weak spot. I wondered why. Was it because he had elven
blood?
ut

people had an affinity for certain schools of magic, while other schools
inherently gave them trouble.
 Once I asked Sylph if he was afraid of fire. He shook his head and said
he w

had some instinctual fear.

Experie
schools. With dwarves, for instance, water was a very common opposition
school. Dwarves lived close to the mountains, and spent their childhoods
playing in the dirt before following in their pare
blacksmithing or mining and the like, which made them naturally more adept
with earth and fire. Up in the mountains, there was also the risk of geysers
suddenly erupting and causing steam burns, or heavy rains drowning people
in floods, so it was easy for water to become an opposition school. So, yeah,

was more of an environmental thing.

comfortable upbringing.

since trying to explain that concept was a pain, I had Sylph practice with fire
as well. He had nothing to lose by being able to use it whenever he needed.
For e
to die of food poisoning, you needed to use a bit of fire. Though I guessed
even Beginner-tier detoxification magic could neutralize most poisons.
complain as he went through his
training, probably because he wanted to back up his claims of not being

hand and my magic textbook (the one I brought from home) in the other, his
face steeled in concentration as he chanted. And if a boy like me was thinking
that, he was sure to be super-hot once he grew up.

quickly shook my h
jealousy. Besides, his being good-looking was part of my plan: Operation Hot
Friend Bait.

His voice banished the song from my head. He was gazing up at me,
pointing at one of the pages in A Textbook of Magic. And that look he was
giving me was a powerful one. I wanted to just wrap my arms around him
and pull him into a kiss. But I managed to resist the urge.
bear its own weight, and it all comes collapsing down. You know how when

TV, anyway.
Sylph had me read from A Textbook of Magic. This was also part of
teaching him how to read and write. No harm in learning literacy. There was
no spell in this world that could do that for you. The lower the literacy rate,
the more valuable being able to read was.
-tier
water spell Ice Pillar. A shaft of water sprang from the ground, glinting
brightly in the sunlight.

A Textbook of
Magic

can you chant two

doing the incantation and use Heat Hand to warm it up. I think you could
chant one of the spells if you wanted, and you could also put the water into a

I then demonstrated casting both spells without the incantations. Sylph

watched me with wide eyes. Silent spellcasting was clearly a very high-level

of the instructors at the University of Magic was capable of it. Sylph was
better off using Combined Magic than trying the no-incantations route. I
figured that would let someone achieve very similar effects without having to
do something so difficult.
different opinion from me. Maybe he saw the ability to do something in one
go as better than alternating between two spells?
Hmm. I supposed that if teaching him that wound up being futile, he
could just use Combined Magic, anyway.
re going through the
incantation for a spell? That feeling throughout your body that collects in
your fingertips? Try doing that without saying the incantation. Once you feel

come to your mind and then force it out through your hands. Try to do

Sylph closed his eyes and began muttering and murmuring as he did a
weird, wriggly little dance. Trying to convey something you did through
feelings was really hard. Silent incantation was something you did in your
head; different people probably had different methods that worked for them.
Figuring that fundament
incantations the entire past year. Maybe the more you used incantations, the

to switch
was easier said than done.

Okay. Maybe not, then.

Sylph beamed with pride after managing to conjure a series of

suppose. I guessed this was like removing the training wheels from a bicycle.
Perhaps it was a matter of youthful perspicacity? Or maybe Sylph had an
innate talent?

Besides, if he was able to skip the incantation part, it would make it

did them myself.

the sky had been overtaken by a dark bank of rainclouds. A moment later, the
 pped up.

going to grow. I make a point not to mess with the weath

far away, we made for the Greyrat estate.

***

-
Our maid, Lilia, was standing just inside, waiting with a large cloth in

already drawn some warm water for you. Please wash up and dry off on the
ch a cold. The lord and lady of the house will

few words, and

the house, and came back with another large cloth for him.
The two of us took off our shoes, then dried off our heads and our bare
feet before heading upstairs. Entering my room, I saw that a bucket filled

bathtubs even, so this was how we cleaned up. According to Roxy, there were

bathing in the first place, this method was fine by me.

I undressed until I was fully naked, and then saw Sylph fidgeting
awkwardly, his face blushing bright red.

-
never undressed himself before? I mean, he was only six.

sopping wet coat, exposing his stark white skin, along with his lack of
muscular definition.
I reached for his lower garments next, but he grabbed hold of my arm.
-

naked and shower when it was time to swim in the pool, but it was always a
little awkward being exposed to people in the same age bracket.

down.
- he head as I took hold of

-
him, Sylph had
never so staunchly refused to do something. I was a little shocked. Did elves
maybe have some rule about not being seen naked? If that was the case,
trying to forcibly strip him was a bad call.

I removed my hands, and Sylph gave me a teary-

He was so cute. I wanted to get even closer to this adorable boy.
And as I thought that, my mischievous streak suddenly sprang to the
fore. After all, it was hardly fair that I was the only one naked.

them down in one fell swoop. Come to me, Zenra Pendulum!

 Sylph shrieked. A moment later, he squatted and curled up into himself
to hide his body from sight but in that moment, what flashed before my
recently accustomed;
nor, naturally, was it a dark blade bearing ominous sigils.
No, what was there rather, what there was, well, replaced by
something that
times over in my past life, on my computer monitor. Sometimes it was

always thinking about how much I wanted to lick and be inside the real thing
someday, my dark lust inevitable causing my white cannon to hit the mark on
a handful of tissues.

she.

***

I came to my senses to see Paul standing there. When had he gotten

home? Had h
I stood petrified; Paul did likewise. There was Sylph, hunched and
curled up, naked and sobbing. There I was, also naked, with her underpants
clutched in my hand.
There was no talking my way out of this one.
It was raining just outside, but it sounded so very far away.

Paul

I came home after work to find my son assaulting the young girl
that he always liked spending time with.
I wanted to tear into him on the spot, but I managed to stay level.
Maybe

sobbing girl in the care of my wife and the maid while I helped my son clean
up and dry off.
apologize, but now the apology came right out and he turned meek,

Rudeus

more honest than that.

Something about seeing my boy so utterly dejected made me feel guilty.

That fondness for women came from me. When I was little, I was full of
youthful vigor and virility, and incessantly chased after cute girls who caught
my eye. I managed to keep myself more subdued these days, but I really

Of course an intellectual boy like him would struggle with these

sympathize with him. I needed to give him proper guidance based on my

experiences.
o Sylphiette.

been infatuated with the girl from the very beginning. The whole fuss from a

was a smack from his old man.

protecting her from the other kids. He had to keep up with both sword and
magic training, but still made as much time for her as he could. He was so
close to her that I think he even offered to give her his wand and magic
textbook, which he valued more than anything.
I understood why he was feeling so glum at the idea that she might hate

ened at that, if only a tiny bit. He was a smart kid;

a promising and foreboding prospect.

Rudeus stood up from the bath, looked to Sylphiette, and opened with:

Rudeus

After a lot of apologies, compliments, and reassurances, I got her to

forgive me somehow.

now on. Apparently, her full name was Sylphiette? Paul looked at me as if he
were dumbfounded by how I ever mistook such a cute little thing for a boy.
But I never expected Sylphie would actually turn out to be a girl.

shorter than mi

just a plain shirt and trousers. If

made that mistake.

so

was to run fast as she could, which would explain why she wore trousers
-off, so after

skirt, too.
boy. I only thought she was a cute boy because of my own preconceptions,

No, enough with that. Anything I said now would just be an excuse.

Learning that Sylphie was a girl changed my attitude. Seeing her in her
boyish getup made me feel kind of weird.

in a new light if she changed

her appearance, hence the suggestion. Sylphie may have hated her hair, but
that emerald green color would look dazzling in the sunlight. I definitely
wanted her to try growing it out and, if possible, for her to style it in either
pigtails or a ponytail.

Ever since that incident, Sylphie had been wary of me. In particular, she
conspicuously avoided physical contact. Since she always went along with

I forced a smile to mask my feelings. Sylphie was my only friend. At

least we could still play together. There might be some lingering
awkwardness, but at least we were still hanging out together.
For today, I told myself, that would be good enough.

***

Swordplay
Sword God Style: Beginner; Water God Style: Beginner

Attack Magic
 Fire: Advanced; Water: Saint; Wind: Advanced; Earth: Advanced

Healing Magic
Healing: Intermediate; Detoxification: Beginner

Healing magic was divided into the same seven ranks as usual, and
comprised four schools: Healing, Protection, Detoxification, and Divine Strike.
But these -sounding titles like Fire Saint or
Water Saint; you were simply called a Saint-tier Healing caster, or a Saint-tier
Detoxification caster.
Healing magic, as the name implied, was used to heal injuries.
Beginners would expend most of their effort simply to close up wounds, but
it was said that people at the Imperial level could regrow lost limbs. But not
even someone at the Divine level could bring a dead creature back to life.
Detoxifying magic helped to purge poisons and disease. At higher
levels, one could create toxins, craft antidotes, and the like. Spells that dealt
with abnormal status effects were all Saint-level or higher, and were
apparently quite difficult.
d create

the details, but my understanding was that it included things like increasing
your metabolism to heal minor wounds, or generating chemicals in the brain
to numb you t
Spells in the Divine Strike school were apparently very effective at
doing damage to ghost-type monsters and wicked demons, but such spells
were the secret purview of human Priest Warriors. Not even the University of

world?

understanding the theory behind it. Elemental Attack magic, for instance,

to other spell types. I knew magic was like some kind of all-powerful element,
.
Take psychokinesis, for example: the ability to make objects float and
come to your hand and all that stuff. Even if I thought that was something
that could be reproduced with magic, I had no way of finding out how to
r had psychic powers.
 In the same vein, I remembered very, very little about how wounds

-how, I bet it would be a different story.

Beyond that, though, I was pretty sure I could reproduce most other

better at my swordplay.
In retrospect, maybe I had wasted way too much of my past life.
b or go to school, but it

sorts of video games and hobbies while everyone else was busy with things
like studying or working. And all the knowledge, experience, and
perspectives I

***

One day, I was outside doing sword training with Paul when I
unwittingly let out a loud sigh.
I thought my father would be angry with me for being so obviously out
of breath, but he flashed a grin instead.

the things weighing on my mind.

Paul grinned again and thrust his wooden practice sword into the
ground. He leaned against it and looked directly at me.

my dad was a
popular guy with the ladies. Zenith was defin

something: some way to keep girls from hating you.

 Granted, Paul was more the kind of person who acted on intuition, so I

wow, you got all

-pressure situ
-and-
to bait the conversation into going my way,

play the part properly.

maternal instincts or whatever?

hiette the things that make you

on that day
show her your softer aspects, too. Use your strengths to protect her, and

Paul was capable of such an explanation!

being a little of both could you pull in the girls.

a lot of stuff wearing me down, and having you avoid me is making me

ke things right with

Wait, this was a multi-stage plan? This guy was a total schemer!

heard him say one final thing.

-year-

***

I got to our spot under the tree earlier than usual, so Sylphie

cleaned up before heading out like I usually did, so I was all sweaty.
What should I do? There was nothing to be done, really. Times like this,
I just had to do mental exercises. I swung my sword around as I ran through

my weaknesses. Weakness. How was I supposed to do that again? Ah, right

let her see that I was feeling down. But how? When was the right time?

Should I try to work it into the flow of the conversation? Could I do that,
though? No I would.
Caught up with thinking about this while idly swinging my sword, I
must have loosened my grip, because the sword slipped right out of my hand.

My mind went completely blank. Crap! What should I do? What should I
say?!
 -

her. It was like we were the same poles of two different magnets.
Sweat dripped off my forehead. My breathing leveled out. Good.
I reached down to pick up the wooden sword in dejection, then struck a
remorseful pose, facing away from her. I allowed my shoulders to slump, and

For a few moments, there was silence. Had I done okay? Did I do it
right, Paul? Should I have made myself even more vulnerable? Or was I being
too obvious?

Suddenly, something grabbed my hand from behind. The sensation was

warm and soft, and I looked to see Sylphie there.

while. Paul! I did it!

her face a touch lonesome as she said it.

That snapped me back to my senses. I mean,

completely out of nowhere. As sudden a switch as the moment a young

money.

und a cute girl like her.

with someone like that.

knowhow of adult visual novels. If she were a boy, I could have leveraged the

adult, or Sylphie more grown up, I could have gotten by with my knowledge
where you could r
the sort of relationship I wanted with her. We were both way too young.
Well, for the time being, anyway. I definitely had high hopes for the
future!
All that aside, this was a girl who had been bu

or girl
same way was just too hard. I was a boy, and I wanted to forge a good
relationship with a cute girl.
But, like, for later on!

about this, too.

- e she
patted my head. Then, Sylphie flashed me a wonderful, carefree smile. It was
so soft.
I was moved almost to the point of tears.

took her hand and gripped it tightly in mine. Her face blushed red with

Hidden away within me was the power I needed to make this decision.
And so, I did.
Tha

normally, and do my best not to frighten or fluster her.

I might as
well.
It was time to be an oblivious protagonist.
 Chapter 9:
Emergency Family Meeting

Zenith had learned she was pregnant. I was going to have a little
brother or sister. Our family was growing. Oh, Rudy, you lucky guy!
For a few years now, Zenith had been worried about her inability to

was a shift in her food cravings, along with nausea, vomiting, and a general
sense of fatigue in other words, symptoms of classic morning sickness. The
feelings were familiar, and a trip to the doctor confirmed that her self-
diagnosis was almost certainly correct.
The Greyrat household was abuzz at the announcement. What will we

-me-downs. There
was no end to the topics to be discussed.
It was a day of bubbling joy and countless smiles. I was honestly very

break all of my precious things (with a baseball bat).

***

Our maid, Lilia, had discovered that she was pregnant, as well.
-of-factly to the family as we sat at

In that instant, the Greyrat family froze. Who was the father? But, given
the circumstances, nobody could bring themselves to ask.
Everyone had realized it on some level at least. Lilia was our maid. She
sent almost all of her pay back home to her family. Unlike Paul, who
frequently headed into town to help settle problems, or Zenith, who helped
out at the local clinic at certain times, Lilia almost never left the house unless
it was on work-related duties, and nobody had heard rumors about her
developing an especially close relationship with anyone. Perhaps it had been
a casual fling?
I knew the truth, though.
 Ever since Zenith had gotten pregnant, Paul had been forced to go

thought they were just playing cards or something.

Unfortunately, I knew all too well what was really going on. They

was a maid involved, but this was no mere round of cards.

careful. Which is probably what both of
them were thinking, too.

be learning all about the importance of contraception!

Part of me wanted to say that to Paul with a completely deadpan face,

never forgive me.

Besides, I owed Paul for helping me through that incident with Sylphie.

alibi if I had to.

Having come to that decision, I looked over at Paul, letting him know
with my eyes that he had nothing to worry about.
At the same time, however, Zenith shot a look right over at Paul, her
shocked assumption plain on her face.
Conveniently enough, our gazes both fell upon Paul as one, bearing
down on him.

Good grief. Really? Well, no; I suppose I should commend the man for

-and-mighty stuff like that day in and day out, the least
he could do was practice what he preached.

Anyway, this really was the worst-case scenario. That sentiment

solidified as I watched Zenith draw herself up to her full height, her face livid,
her hand rising into the air.
And thus was convened an emergency family meeting, with Lilia
included.
 ***

It was Zenith who first broke the silence. She had the authority in this

From what I could see, she was as calm as anything. Instead of going

contented herself with a single smack. A red mark like a maple leaf spread

She seemed rather composed, too. Maybe this was a common

occurr
people object, she just leaves the house.
A pitiful story like that would normally turn me on, but under the

Paul was all huddled up in a corner. So much for paternal dignity.

The Fittoa Region was in the northeastern part of the Asura Kingdom.

context took close to a month and required switching between multiple

stagecoaches. Still, that was a month traveling through safe lands with good

That, however, was for a typical traveler. Lilia had no money. She

the Greyrats paid for her

bad guy and spotted her, what would I do?

I would attack her. She was an obvious sitting duck, practically begging
for someone to take a shot at her. Take the child hostage, keep the mother
distracted with empty promises. Meanwhile, take all her money and

hat would be that.

Even if people said that the Asura Kingdom was the safest nation in the

still a high likelihood of them being attacked.

And like Zenith had said, there was also the physical aspect to consider.
Even if Lilia did have the stamina to make it, what about the child? Could a
newborn handle a month-long journey like that? Probably not.

Even if s
done for. I suddenly had the mental image of Lilia lying dead in the midst of a

that sort of fate.

He shrank like a scolded child. This was definitely one instance where
he had no right to speak. Paul was useless here.
Zenith chewed on her nails with a look of consternation. She was

running this household together, it was probably fair to say they were best
friends.

If Lilia had gotten pregnant because she was raped in some back alley,
Zenith would have unquestionably sheltered her, and allowed her to no, she
would have insisted she raise the child in our home.

accessible in this world.

Zenith appeared to be grappling with two separate emotions: her
fondness for Lilia and her feelings of betrayal. Considering the circumstances,
I thought Zenith was pretty incredible for being able to set aside her

The fact that Zenith was able to keep her cool seemed connected to
Lili
 If you asked me, though, it was Paul who ought to be taking
responsibility here. It was weird to lay the blame solely on Lilia. Very, very
weird.

I decided that I was going to help Lilia.

lping out. She set aside a

towel for me to wipe away the sweat when I was practicing my swordplay;
she drew me a bath when I got caught in the rain; she fetched me blankets on
chilly nights; she rearranged the shelves when I put a book back in the wrong
space.
But most importantly, more than anything else
She knew about my treasured panties and had kept silent about it.
Yes, Lilia knew about those. This happened back when I still thought
Sylphie was a boy. It had been raining, and so I was up in my room reading
and reviewing my botanical encyclopedia when Lilia came in and started to

took her close to my secret hiding place on the shelf. By the time I did realize,
it was too late; Lilia already had my precious panties in her hand.
-in,
leaving my stuff scattered around, unconcerned about anyone else stumbling
across it. I even had my folder for porn right on my desktop. Maybe my skill

it, too! Was this a superpower that maids had?

something start to crumble. I could hear the
blood beginning to drain from my head.
The questioning began.

- maybe like sesame oil or something like

 Lilia wordlessly returned my prized panties back to their sacred hiding
place. Then, as I quivered in fear, she left the room.
That evening, I braced myself for the inevitable family meeting except
it never came. I spent the long night shuddering fearfully in my futon, but
even when morning ca
I owed it to her to repay that debt.

***

I wanted to give off the naïve impression of:

that?

Zenith said with a sigh, an unfathomable rage mixed in with those words. But

blame here.

Lilia was as stone-faced as ever, though she did raise a curious

eyebrow, as if my assertion had been on the mark. Did Paul actually have
en, it seemed
 Was I actually on the mark? Or was she just playing along?

repeatedly like
all up.

something

sister will have someone the

Jeez, way to give me a hard time about it, Mom.

wide; Lilia brought her hand to her mouth, holding back her tears.
 All right, then. That was all done and settled.

***

And so, with all of the responsibility laid squarely on Paul, we got
through things without further issue. By the end, Zenith was looking at him
with the cold dispassion of someone who was about to slaughter a pig. My
balls tensed up in anticipation of what punishment she might unleash upon
him. With that look still in her eyes, though, Zenith simply returned to her
room.
Lilia was crying, her face blank and expressionless, but tears streamed
from her eyes. Paul looked conflicted about whether he should put his arms
around her or not. For the time being, I was going to let the playboy do his
thing.
I followed after Zenith. If this situation wound up with her and Paul
getting divorced, that would create its own host of problems.
I knocked on the bedroom door, and Zenith poked her head out.

wa
For a moment, Zenith was taken aback, but then she grimaced and

weakness for

pretty indiscriminate. You might have older brothers and sisters out there

She exerted a bit more pressure with the hand that was ruffling my
hair.

She rubbed

-
nailed down what I was going to go on to do in the future.
Still, things would be all right if they stayed like this. Where they went
from here that was all on Paul now.
 Still, it was tough knowing that my dad was such a damn hedonist. No
more second chances from me, señor.

The day after that, sword practice was exceedingly rough.

Iw
it out on me like that.

Lilia

I
I had no intention of doing such a thing when I first came to this house.
But to hear them moaning night after night, to clean a room that smelled of a
man and woman who were very satisfied I had my needs, and they were
building up.
At first, I was able to deal with those needs on my own. Watching Paul
practicing swordplay in the yard every morning, however, stoked the fire
inside me that had never completely died.
Watching him reminded me of our first time. We were still so young,
back when he was staying at the training hall where we practiced. Paul snuck
into my room at night and forcibly ha

The next person who made advances toward me, though, was that bald,
fat minister. That certainly put into perspective how much better things with
Paul had been. Also, when I heard that Paul was hiring a maid, I figured I
could use what had happened back then as leverage in my negotiations.

then; any trace of boyishness had disappeared, replaced with the look of a

one of the first thoughts to cross my mind was that the past six years had
certainly been kind to him.
At f

up. I was able to resist, but I was fully aware that I was walking a very thin
line.
All of that came crashing down when Zenith got pregnant.
 Knowing that Paul had an abundance of libido, I got it in my head that
this was my opportunity. I saw my chance, and I invited Paul into my room.
So, this really was my own fault. I thought of my own pregnancy as
punishment my punishment for giving in to my lust, and for betraying
Zenith.
But I was forgiven. Rudeus forgave me. That clever child, he managed
to correctly deduce what had happened, lead the conversation precisely
where it needed to go, and even bring things to an elegant compromise. He
was so level and calculating about it, as if he had some similar prior
experience to go on.
It was an unsettling no, best to quit while I was still ahead.
Rudeus weirded me out, and so I made a point to avoid him as much as
I could. The boy was smart; he probably realized I was avoiding him. Even so,
he had saved me. I cou
and my child over his own feelings.
I would owe him for that for the rest of my life. He was someone who
deserved my respect.
Yes, he did deserve it. I would owe him a debt for as long as I lived. So,
once the child in my belly was safely born, and once they were grown up, I

Rudeus

Several months passed without anything especially major

happening.
Sylphie was growing remarkably fast. She was now able to cast
Intermediate-level spells without incantations, and she was reaching the
point where she could pull off some pretty subtle effects. In comparison, my

managed to win a single round against Paul so far, so it was difficult to get too
excited about my progress.

her guard around me

was a little kid, that was only natural. While nothing had really changed about
her lack of overt emotion, I felt her words and her mannerisms now bore an
overwhelming sense of reverence for me. I got that she was happy about my
it down.
 If nothing else, ever since that incident, Lilia had begun to talk to me a
little mostly old stories about Paul. Apparently, they had both studied
swordplay at the same training hall many years back. She told me things, like
how Paul had been very talented back then, but hated to practice. Or how
Paul would skip training in order to gallivant around town. Or how Paul had
forced himself on her in the middle of the night and taken her virtue. Or how
Paul had eventually fled the training hall.
Bit by bit, Lilia opened up to me about all that. The more she told me
about the past, the more my opinion of Paul dropped. He was a rapist and a
cheater. He was trash.

irresponsible, and somethin

keeping up that facade; when he set his mind to it, he mostly just came across
as frank and straightforward, and I knew for sure he
through and through.

The nerve of this guy, honestly.

who cheats on his wife and risks tearing his family

At the look on his face, I resolved to be a bit more careful. I was

girls could
come to me of their own accord.

-
This man had learned nothing.
with her family without saying

Was this guy hoping to build himself a harem? To have some secret
retirement out in the sticks, where he had a beautiful wife, a maid he could
get handsy with whenever he wanted, and a son to train in the way of the
sword?
 Huh. That made me kind of jealous. That was probably the best ending

the end of that one light novel series. Maybe, rather than being oblivious, I
should try to learn from his example?

family meeting of ours came to a close. Did I want someone to give me that
look? One wife would be plenty, thanks.

refusing to back down.

would a six-year-

Well, I sure

Yeah, Paul was trash, but we seemed to be on the same level here. I
might look like a child, but mentally, I was an unemployed bum over forty
years old. A classic example of trash, right there.
When it came to video games, if nothing else, I was fond of girls, and
loved harems. Perhaps, on an intrinsic level, I was the same sort of
womanizer that Paul was. Maybe the
-to-
felt like Paul was more willing to compromise, to open up with me. Maybe
seeing my weak points had made him lose that drive to be an unreasonably
strict father. He was still growing, too.

me, but rather behind me. I turned around and saw Sylphie standing there. It
was rare of her to come to our house.
On closer inspection, she was blushing ever so slightly, her hands
fidgeting. She must have overheard me.

Guess Paul still had a ways to go. Even heartfelt words eventually lost
their impact if you heard them so often you got used to them. Repeating those
words now was a no-go. So I just flashed Sylphie a wordless grin and offered
her a wave instead.
Besides, Sylphie was only six years old; it was a decade too early for
that sort of conversation. If I kept reassuring her over and over that she was

sister from my past life was a prime example of that.

Sylphie was excellent at being diplomatic; I nearly mistook that look in

cute, but there were no romantic feelings behind that.

Not right now, anyway.

And so, today our house would be a peaceful one yet again.

***

Soon after that, Zenith gave birth.

It was a rough experience, a breech birth. With Lilia gravid as she was,
she called for a midwife from the village, an older woman, but even she said

The birth took quite some time, with both mother and child at risk. Lilia
put all of her combined knowledge to work, and I assisted by continually

All told, our efforts worked, and the birth was a success. The baby came
safely into this world, letting out its first, healthy cries.

Our relief was short-lived, however, as Lilia went into labor as well. We

flittered through my mind.

 This time, however, the midwife was able to play her part. While she
might not have been good with breech births, premature births were
something she claimed to have experience in. Age really did bring wisdom,
sometimes.
I did as the midwife instructed, kicking Paul in the butt to snap him out
of his daze and have him bring Lilia to my room. While he was taking care of
that, I used magic to prepare a new bath for the soon-to-be newborn,
gathered up all the clean cloths and towels we had, and went back to the
midwife.
I let her handle things from there.

was at her side, dripping with sweetness, clutching her hand.

let out the same kind of
healthy cries all the same. This one was a girl as well. Two daughters. Two
little sisters. Paul chuckled sheepishly to himself even as he mused about
both of his new children being girls. For the second time that day, I got to see
the big, dumb grin of a new parent on his face.
Paul was in an unenviable position, however. The women in our
household had now doubled in number. Who was going to wind up on the
bottom of the totem pole in that situation? Probably the guy who cheated
with the maid and knocked her up. As for me, I was hoping to establish
myself as the cool older brother. No way was Paul getting any respect.
 Chapter 10:
Stunted Growth

I was now seven years old.

My two little sisters, Norn and Aisha, were growing quickly. They cried
when they peed themselves, they cried when they pooped themselves, they
cried when they were upset about something, and they cried even when they

energetic wailing.
Before long, Paul and Zenith were having a shared nervous breakdown.
The only one who kept her

with young Rudeus were much too easy! You could hardly call that real

In my case, I was already used to crying babies, thanks to my younger

had experience in looking after babies again, thanks to my brother

briskly change diapers and help out with the laundry and the cleaning. Paul
would watch me, looking quite embarrassed for himself. Much like a Japanese

the house.
Certainly, his skills with the sword were undeniable, and the people of
the town held him in esteem, but he was only half the man he needed to be in
order to be a dad.
And this was his second time around, too. Good grief.

***

more amazing points. Now, I admit that he was a man with plenty of flaws,
and was, in fact, undeniably human garbage. So why do this?
Because he was strong. These were his skills:
Sword God Style: Advanced.
Water God Style: Advanced.
North God Style: Advanced.
 Yeah. Advanced in all three schools. To put that into perspective, they
said that it took a talented individual a good ten years of dedication to reach
the Advanced level in a given school. To put it in kendo terms, it was
somewhere around fourth or fifth dan. Intermediate level was somewhere
around first through third dan, and was the rank at which someone was
considered a full-fledged knight. To reach Saint-level required the skill of

Essentially, Paul possessed skills equ

fourth dan in kendo, judo, and karate
before finishing his training. He made a poor excuse for an adult, but in terms
of strength, the man was a certifiable badass. Moreover, for someone only in
his mid-twenties, he had an almost scary amount of real-world combat
experience.
That experience had made him both cunning and pragmatic. It was an
intuitive thing, so I barely made sense of half of it, but I could tell that he was
the real deal. In
of the Beginner level. Maybe that might change after my physique developed
more in a few years, but for now, no matter what mental simulations I ran, I
I made full use of my spell catalog

I had seen Paul do battle with monsters before.

reports that monsters

Paul was up against four monsters. Three of them were what we called
Assault Dogs, canine monsters that moved about like trained Dobermanns.
The fourth was a bipedal, four-armed porcine monstrosity known as a
Terminator Boar. The boar had emerged from within the forest with the
three dogs in formation behind him.
Paul handled them with ease, beheading the lot of them in a single
stroke.

His fighting style had a certain beauty to it a mysterious rhythm that

made your heart race, yet put you at ease while watching. I had no good way
passions of Mrs. Eto. He was the most desirable guy in the whole entire
village.
Charisma aside, I was grateful to have Paul around to have someone

my skill in magic convince

me to challenge some monsters to a fight, and, unable to handle a pack of

go to my

Swordsmen in this world had skills beyond what I was used to. They
could run at speeds approaching fifty kilometers per hour, and their reflexes
and ability to track movement were quite impressive. Thanks to the existence
of Healing magic, death from injury was something that could be staved off,
so these swordsmen were practiced in killing their foes in a single stroke. In a
world where monsters existed, it only made sense for people to grow so
powerful.
Still, even Paul was only at the Advanced level. There were plenty of
people higher up the rankings within the official framework alone. And there
were enough world-famous individuals and monsters out there that Paul

I was grateful for Paul teaching me to wield a sword. Other than that,
though, he was still no good as a dad. He was like an Olympic gold medalist
who also happened to be a convicted criminal.

***

One day, I was working on my sword practice with Paul, as I usually

definitely
get better.

was still internalizing the practice. Probably. I mean, it had to be, right?
As I was mulling that over, Paul broke the silence.
 He quickly broke off and brought his practice sword to bear, as if
nothing had happened.

they teach things like reading and writing, arithmetic, history, etiquette, and

I let everyone think that Roxy had taught me arithmetic. With two new
baby girls, the financial situation at home had gotten rather tough, and with

out to her great shock. It had looked like there was going to be another

off.
And hey, if that made their estimation of Roxy go up as a result, all the
better.
ther

Paul swallowed, as if he had a lump in his throat.

re definitely going to get

bullied. A bunch of local noble brats will be there, sure, but they just get all

probably form a clique and push you around. And my father was a marquis,

the corrupt nobility. Etiquette and history were an inescapable part of being
a proper Asuran noble, so he must have found those subjects tough to
tolerate.
 An unmistakable tension filled the air between us as we talked.
n had some pretty cute

with makeup, fuss obsessively over their hairdos, and reek of perfume. I
mean, sure, some of them practice swordplay and are hot, but the bulk of
them keep their bodies hidden underneath corsets, and even when you do get
one into bed and get her clothes off, they never get any exercise, so their

look in his eyes as he spoke.

then wound up with a lovely wife like Zenith, so maybe there was something
to it.

-in for
close to twenty years just for show.

labyrinths were a kind of monster themselves. They started as simple

caverns, but were altered by accumulations of magical energy, transforming
them into labyrinths.
At the deepest part of the labyrinth was a magical crystal you could
think of as the power source, which was protected by a boss that acted as the
guardian. This magical crystal was bait, exuding a powerful, attractive
energy. Monsters were drawn in by that energy and made their way into the
labyrinth, where they fell victim to traps, starved to death, or were killed by
the boss that guarded the crystal; the labyrinth then absorbed the magical
essence of those dead monsters.
However, newly formed labyrinths often had their magical crystals
devoured by monsters instead, or the crystal was shattered by the cavern
collapsing. Hearing that some of them met clumsy ends made them seem all
the more like living creatures.
Humans found them quite tempting as well. The crystals could be used as
catalysts for certain spells, and they fetched a rather high price. The price
went up with size, but even a small one would bring in enough to afford
someone a full year of easy living. And while these magical crystals were the

As time passed, the equipment that belonged to the monsters and

adventurers that the labyrinth had devoured would grow imbued with
magical energy. They became a new sort of bait: magical items.
Magical items differed from magical implements in that they could be
used witho

powers that were garbage. Still, there was a chance that you might find one
among them that gave the user the abilities of someone who was a Saint-tier
magician. Items like this sold for a fortune, and people delved into labyrinths
with dreams of striking it rich quick.
The bulk of them fell before they could reach their prize, however, their
deaths feeding the labyrinth as it took their magical essence and used it to
grow larger and deeper. This was how long-standing labyrinths came to have
their depths filled with hoards of treasure.
The oldest and deepest known labyrinth was the Pit of the Dragon God,
situated at the foot of the holy Mount Dragoncry in the Red Wyrm mountain

and was estimated to contain some twenty-five hundred floors.

Apparently, this colossal dungeon was connected to a hole at the
pinnacle of Mount Dragoncry itself. By leaping into it, you could presumably
plunge right to the very deepest floor, but no one who tried that stunt ever
made it back alive.

labyrinth itself had supposedly created it in order to consume red dragons;

when one flew by, the Pit would suck it into its maw.

ent
monster.
As for the most purely challenging -

the middle of the Ringus Sea. Both of these were brutally difficult even to
reach, meaning it was all but impossible to resupply once you arrived. Given
adventurer could face.
That was basically the extent of my knowledge on this topic at the
moment.

The Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth, right? Exploring a

books. Ever thought about giving it a shot yourse

The Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth was the tale of three brilliant
young fighters who would come to be known as the Sword God, the Water
God, and the North God. The book began with their initial meeting and
followed them through a series of twists and turns that led them to challenge
a huge labyrinth together. There was plenty of conflict, laughter, and male
bonding along the way, as well as a few painful farewells; in the end,
naturally, they achieved their goal triumphantly.
The labyrinth in that book only went down about a hundred floors, but
it was bad enough.

ine-class swordsmen, and

Paul rolled right into the story of a young Oni man who teamed up with
a group of human warriors to enter a labyrinth full of Fishmen, and their
eventual victory at the cost of several comrades. Before I had time to process
that one, he moved on to the tale of an incompetent magician who
accidentally fell into a labyrinth, joined a party that happened to have lost its
own magician, and discovered his latent talents in the heat of battle.
It kind of felt like Paul had been rehearsing this conversation in
advance.
I
guess the plan was to barrage me with stories of adventure and fill my head

uninterested, especially when it came to the labyrinths themselves. But on

the whole, it sounded way too dangerous.
 The people in that book tended to meet their ends pretty damn

course, but they were the only ones who survived their expedition. One of
their allies got charred to a crisp in the middle of a conversation by a fireball
that came flying out of nowhere. Another one fell through a hole in the floor
and went splat. Oh, and then there was that guy who got chopped in half the
moment he poked his head out of cover. Even warriors strong enough to take
down fearsome monsters easily were slaughtered by traps the instant they
got a little careless.
Being the protagonists and all, our three heroes made their way past
these obstacles unscathed, but I doubted a clumsy guy like me could manage
that. I was the oblivious type, after all.

Why would I deliberately put myself in highly risky situations just to

get a thrill? A relaxed life full of women seemed way more
appealing.

better stick to chasing one skirt at a time for

Paul pointed behind me with a grin. I turned around to find myself face
to face with a very sulky-looking Sylphie.
Perfect timing, moron.

***

lphie recently,
walking her through the basics of math and science. It seemed like the
quickest way to help her understand how silent spellcasting really worked in
detail.

almost immediately.
 As a result, there was a real limit to how much I could teach her. Book

not having taken my studies a bit more seriously.

By now, Sylphie had mastered the basics of reading and writing, and
could handle multiplying two-digit numbers. The times table had been
some
up division soon enough as well. I was also teaching her some fundamental
science, in parallel with magic.

urally dissolves into air, but it takes some heat for that

Today, we were covering the cycle of evaporation, condensation, and

precipitation.

general. Probably because she always paid attention and tried her best.

gets colder
this was the best I could manage.

need tools to experiment with stuff like this.

Still, when I really focused, I could now roughly distinguish between

the different elements in the air around me. I could probably just pump
oxygen and hydrogen into a rock until it melted.
Incidentally, there was also a spell called Magma Gusher that let you
create a spontaneous burst of lava. I felt like that one had to be some
combination of earth and fire magic, but it was classed as an Advanced-level
fire spell.
They liked to divide things neatly into their different disciplines here,
but it was all interrelated. And pumping more raw magical power into your
combustible gases, for example, you could produce intense heat more
efficiently.

my current spells, use them more effectively, and increase their power with
some minor scientific tweaks.

t a dead end. Given my current level of knowledge, I might

never manage to do anything more challenging than what I could pull off
now.
Back in my former life, it was easy enough to find information on the
internet when I needed it, but there
ing so convenient in this world. Maybe I really did need

Roxy had mentioned that schools for magicians tended to have very
strict rules and standards, but maybe I could find some way to get into one.

anxious expression on her face.

opping casual
suggestions, once a month or so. At the moment, it only qualified as a short
bob, but it was kind of nice to see her messy little curls react to every
movement of her head.

Wait, seriously?

I was trying to probe for details with a little joke, but Sylphie frowned
and shook her head.

Oh. Phew.
 I was worri
apparently, she was just concerned about me.

with magic came partially from my memories of my previous life, and

partially from my initial breakthrough with the silent spellcasting. Those two

-four mostly
anymore.
It was easy to curse myself for not having studied when I had the
chance, but what was done was done. And facts from my former world

rules I needed to discover. I could

Magic was the fundamental law here. And to understand it, I needed to
understand this world.

Sylphie was improving steadily at magic, and getting smarter by the

day. Watching her progress was starting to make me feel a little pathetic. I
was just treading water by comparison.
For the moment, I could still think of myself as the oblivious
protagonist of this story. But unless I got my arrogant butt in gear, this girl
was going to leave me in the dust someday.

labyrinths a shot, and there

probably end up going to some school or trying the adventurer thing, I

- me.
 But even as the thought was running through my mind, I realized she
was trembling.

The girl was squeezing me so hard it was difficult to breathe. Not sure
how to respond, I fell silent for a moment.

Apparently interpreting this negatively, Sylphie burst into tears. Little

shoulders shuddering, she proceeded to bury her face in my chest.

For the moment, the girl clearly needed comforting, so I stroked her
head and rubbed her back. I wrapped my arms around Sylphie. When I
buried my face in her hair, I discovered that it smelled extremely nice.
Oh man. Pure bliss.
e?

Whoops. Snap out of it, stupid.

-
It made perfect sense, really.
For a while now, Sylphie had been coming over to our house first thing
in the morning almost every day. She would happily watch me practice my
swordplay, after which we moved on to magic and her studies.

y other friends.
The more I thought about it, the more affection I felt for her. I was the
only one Sylphie cared about this deeply. She was mine, and mine alone.

How could I even think of tossing a sweet little girl like this aside and
wandering off somewhere? To do what? Improve my magic? To hell with
that. I could already cast Advanced- and Saint-tier spells. That was good
enough to make a living as a tutor, the
stay here with Sylphie until we were old enough to get by on our own?

into my perfect woman.

Hikaru Genji style, baby!
 Gweheheh.
ughts. Bad thoughts.

too far ahead of yourself.

G
The girl was only six years old. She was clearly very fond of me, but she

For how long, though? Now that was the question. Did I need to wait

What if she ended up hating me for wasting her time?

Her affection meter was at max for now, but there was no guarantee it
would stay that way forever. Could I live with myself if it dropped to zero?
No !

slack- we feel, so we should just

take this to the next level!
Why force myself to waste precious time? Why not just admit I made the
wrong call?!

At this point, Paul barged into the room, pulling me out of my own little
world and not a moment too soon. Startled, I pulled away from Sylphie.

about two minutes away from turning into an extremely pathetic kind of
villain.

storm, but there was no telling what might happen next time.

***
 The letter I received that day was from Roxy, as it happened.

Dear Rudeus, How have you been?

parted.

chance to write.
capital of the Kingdom of Shirone.

name for myself, so I ended up getting hired to tutor a certain prince.

Teaching him brings back memories of the time I spent in the Greyrat
household. For one thing, the prince is actually quite a bit like the young man I
-witted boy and a

stealing my underwe

considerably more energetic, but on the whole your patterns of behavior are
quite similar.
Perhaps ambitious men are all sex-

understand what you people find so appealing about my scrawny little body,
honestly.
t, they
might toss me in the dungeon for besmirching the honor of the royal family.

of this in a bad way, really.

In any case, it seems the royal court is planning to appoint m

Oh, that reminds me

King-tier water spells. The royal library here happened to have some helpful
books on the subject. Back when I first mastered Saint-tier magic, I thought
that was the best I could ever do, but it seems a bit of good old-fashioned effort
goes a long way.
-tier water spells
by now, Rudeus. Or maybe you broadened your horizons and reached the Saint-
tier in a different discipline? I know how voracious your thirst for knowledge is,
so I could certainly see you dabbling in Healing or Summoning as well.
 -tier
magician.
Like
your magical studies, go get yourself admitted to the Ranoa University of

you any difficulty at all.

Well then, until we meet again

Roxy

Well, damn. Talk about a wake-up call.

It took a moment for me to find the Kingdom of Shirone on the map. It
was a small country in the southeastern part of the Central Continent. Not so
far away from here as the crow flies, but the mountain range in between was
infested with red dragons, making it totally impassabl
the long way around and approach it from the south.
For all intents and purposes, Shirone was a far-off land. And as for

around to the northwest to get there.

At least now I knew why Roxy had never told me anything about magic
above the King-
I decided to write a brief, vague reply to the letter. No need to explain
the sad truth about my current situation. The girl seemed to have a mental

close to home, an
What to do?
For the moment, I finished my letter, paused, and then added a brief
note.
P.S. Sorry about stealing your panties.
 ***

The next day, I waited until my family was gathered at the dinner table,
and then made my move.

from Zenith, who was seated at his side. And a follow-up attack from Lilia,
who was seated on his other side.
Ever since that whole mess with the unexpected pregnancy, Lilia had
been joining us at the dinner table instead of waiting on us like a maid. It
seemed like she was officially part of the family now.
country? Ah, well. Not my problem!

said Zenith, with a sidelong glare at her husband who was currently
cradling his head in his hands.
a golden

supportively.
After resettling himself in his seat, Paul folded his arms and stuck out

permissi
This comment earned him another two smacks that knocked him right
back down to the table. Just our usual family slapstick routine.

lady-
Another two smacks followed that one, naturally.
 -

Leaning his elbows on the table, Paul shot me a sharp look that brought
to mind a certain spectacled commander. His eyes were deadly serious the
same way they got when he picked up a sword.

Zenith and Lilia stayed silent.

ng

-world
experience. It would just be irresponsible for me to c

though. Unlike before, he was grounding his denial in three rational, well-
defined objections. That meant that if I addressed those points, I could gain
his permission.
There was no need to rush. I never expected any of this to happen
tomorrow, anyway.

Twelve? Hmm. Fifteen was the age kids came of age in this country, as I
recalled.

on. No point arguing about it and getting his hackles up.

might mak

my
 The room fell completely silent for a long moment. I had to fight the
urge to squirm awkwardly in my seat.

In the end, Paul nodded to himself, apparently convinced

t his word.

family resumed their meal.

Paul

hit this stage until I turned eleven, when I reached Advanced level in the
Sword God Style. And some people never get to it at all.
What was that phrase again?
it

eyes back then. The way I saw it, everyone else was taking things too damn
slowly. Any given human has a limited window of time in which they can
actually accomplish things, but nobody seemed to feel any sense of urgency
at all.
I wanted to do everything I possibly could while I had the chance. And

when I came to it.

Of course, tha
myself with a pregnant wife on my hands. Ended up quitting the adventuring
business and leaning on my high-
steady job as a knight.
Forget that part for now, though. Point is, Rudeus was taking things at a
much quicker pace than I ever did. The kid was sprinting forward so fast that
it made me a little nervous just to watch him go.

There was one major difference, though: Rudeus was actually planning things
in advance instead of randomly flailing about the way I used to. I have to
assume he got that side of his personality from Zenith.
Still, I think I need to keep him in one place a little longer.
With that thought in mind, I began to write a letter.
Just like Laws had been telling me the other day, Sylphie had clearly
gotten quite attached to Rudeus.

saved her from the misery of her early childhood and the all-knowing big
brother who could answer all her questions.
She obviously admired him. Recently, she seemed to be developing a
crush on him as well.
Laws, for his part, told me he was hoping the two of them might end up
getting hitched someday. At the time, I was pretty pleased at the prospect of

had said today, I had to reconsider.

Right now, the girl was basically putty in his hands. If the two of them
continued to grow up together like this, Sylphie was going to be permanently
dependent on Rudeus. Even as an adult.

human beings who were little more than puppets, totally controlled by their

just
fine.
But unfortunately, the kid had a bit of his dad in him as well. He was a
born womanizer, in other words. There was a chance he might go running off
after every other girl who caught his eye.
A chance? Nah. The boy was my son. He was definitely going to mess
around. And when the dust settled, he might not end up choosing Sylphie.

It sure as hel

for.
-talking kid to go
along with this?
Hmm. Maybe this called for a brute-force approach.
 Chapter 11:
Parted

One morning, maybe a month after I told Paul that I wanted to

start working, a letter addressed to him arrived at our home.

brace myself for the news without getting too impatient.

Would he tell me after training? At lunch? Maybe dinner?
For the moment, I decided to focus on our sword practice.

***

finished training.

But instead of giving me the good news I was expecting, Paul took
things in a strange direction.

all around on

dramatically. All of a sudden, there was murder in his eyes. Even an amateur
like me could sense what was coming next.

In one smooth, intimidating motion, my father leapt forward.

Death was rushing straight at me, cold and silent.
 Acting on pure instinct, I responded with all the power at my
disposal using fire and wind magic simultaneously to create a blast
between us. I jumped backwards just as the wave of hot wind struck me,
letting the impact carry me farther.

In a fight against Paul, I had no chance unless I put some distance between us
at the start. The blast would hurt me as much as him, but as long as I took the
damage without flinching, it would buy me a bit of space.
Only a bit, of course.
My totally unscathed father was still running forward, his body low to
the ground.

anything else, but it was still terrifying. I needed to

make my next move, and fast.

be faster. Acting on a reflexive judgment call, I set off a shockwave right next
to myself. The blow hit me hard enough to send me flying to the side.
In that same instant, I heard something slice through the air next to my

where my head had been a split second earlier.

I started seeing some possibility I might win this.

As Paul turned toward me to press the attack, I cast a spell that turned
the ground in front of him into a sinkhole. His leading foot stepped right into
the trap.

freed himself barely even missing a beat.

Damn! Do I need to catch both his legs at once?!
This time, I transformed the ground around me into a thick, watery bog.
Before I could sink into it, I fired a small jet of water at the ground in front of
me, sending myself gliding backward across the surface.
fast enough, it was too late.
Paul reached the edge of my little swamp and took one great bound forward.
The force of his stride actually left a small crater in the ground.
The man was going to reach me in a single leap.
 I swung my sword in a blind panic, trying to intercept him. It was an

The grip of my sword wobbled unpleasantly in my hands as my blow

was gently turned aside. I could tell Paul had used a Water God Style
l the good it did me.
Once a Water God swordsman deflects your blow, they always follow

about it.

A short, sharp blow to my neck knocked me instantly unconscious.

***

When I woke up, I found myself inside a box of some sort. Given all the
swaying and clattering going on, it was presumably some kind of vehicle.
I tr

What the hell is going on here?

I managed to turn my neck enough to look around, and saw there was a
woman in there with me. She had dark brown skin, a muscular body covered

imagination. The strong features of her face, combined with the eyepatch she
was wearing, gave her a definite tough-guy vibe.
Pretty much the picture of a fearless female warrior from some fantasy
-like tail.
Apparently sensing my eyes on her, the woman glanced down at me.

manners
A preemptive introduction felt like the right move. The most basic rule
of conversation was to start talking first. Once you seized the initiative, you
could control where things went from there.
 Apparently, she knew both of my parents. That was something of a
relief.

Starting tomorrow? What?

 At this point, I went ahead and burned away the ropes around me with
a bit of fire magic.

been sleeping in the most comfortable of places. I stretched out my arms and
legs and reveled in the blissful sense of release. S
previous life sitting in a cramped little room moving nothing but my fingers,

helpless at the feet of some sadistic-looking older lady. Might have gotten a
little uncomfortable after a while.

down across from Ghislaine. Windows to the left and right offered a view of
the world outside; nothing I saw outside looked remotely familiar.
Okay, so this was definitely a vehicle.
It was swaying so vigorously that I was a little worried I might get sick,
and I could hear a sort of clopping coming from the direction we were
moving in. Seemed reasonable to assume it was a horse-drawn carriage.
Right. So. I was taking a carriage ride with some macho lady, for
reasons totally unclear to me.
Gah! H-have I been kidnapped by some wanton woman weightlifter?! Did
she steal the cutest boy in all the land to be her sex slave?

pledged my heart to Sylphie!

Wait. Wait, wait. Bad thoughts.

C-c-
Count off prime numbers in your head until you relax! Remember what that one

Okay, screw the prime numbers. Just calm down, dude. Think through this

breaths.

First of all, Paul had attacked me for no apparent reason and knocked
then tossed me in here.
The only other

something strange right before he attacked me.

Th-that scumbag pedo! Does his lust know no bounds?!

Wait, I think I just made up those last two. Hmm.

completely derailed in no time at all.

ard one.

miss
As she spoke, Ghislaine reached into her jacket to retrieve a letter and
handed it over to me. The front of it was completely blank.

Opening up the sloppily folded piece of paper, I began to read.

world

Good thing this carriage had a high ceiling.

Just like that, she sat right back down.

ut on somebody.
what the hell is going on, hey? Ideally, that ball of muscle in there with you
would j

Right back down she went. Okay then, moving on.

a better teacher this side of the Sword Sanctum. Trust your old man on this one:

Dad. Please. Could you not have just left that last part out?

certainly popular with the ladies.

hell of a fighter.

lady in Roa, the biggest city in the Fittoa Region. Teach her reading, writing,

Wow. Very helpful, Paul.

-

bodyguard and swordsmanship instructor. In exchange for training you in the

sword, she wants you to teach her reading, writing, and arithmetic as well. I
-brain, but try

forehead? The main purpose of this letter was to explain the situation to me,

about the nature of their relationship.

 My lessons, huh? Right. I guess she was my new instructor from now

-based. Maybe he felt I

watching me not improve at all.

Say what?! I was pretty sure that Roxy had earned five silver coins a
month back when she was tutoring me. This lady charged about four times
more.
This was really a pretty solid deal, then. A normal person in Asura
could get by on about two silver coins a month.

stand on her own two feet if you keep hanging around the village. And you were
growing

H-hold on a second. What?

her letters?!

Ghislaine asked, apparently amused by the look of despair on my face.

 When I really thought about it, though, Paul had a point. At the rate

sticks to the protagonist constantly, revolving around him like a satellite, and
never develops a personality of her own.
In the real world, a girl like that would make her own friends and learn
about new things at school. But thanks to her hair, Sylphie was always going
to have a tough time with that. There was a real chance she would have

but the adults involved felt differently.

This made sense. Paul had made the right call this time.

month. T -

the city and get a feel for spending money. A little practice is the best way to
make sure you can use your cash effectively when you really need to. Then

Seriously, man. You could just leave that part out!

What, was he trying some sort of reverse psychology here? Like,

providing the young lady with a solid education in all respects, your contract
entitles you to a special reward: a payment covering the cost of tuition for two

Hrm. I see.
In other words, once I did my time as a tutor, Paul was going to let me

no guarantee Sylphie will want to tag along with you

five years from now, and you might lose interest in her yourself. But in any case,

the years you spend in this new environment will teach you many
things, allowing you to develop your talents even further. Sincerely, your noble,

Brilliant my ass! Your whole plan was just to beat me into submission!
Still, I had to admit his overall line of thinking was pretty solid. This
was for the best, for both Sylphie and me. She might go back to being a loner
going to grow as a person.

Just like that, I found myself travelling to the Citadel of Roa, the largest
settlement in the Fittoa Region.
I had some mixed feelings about that, of course, but it really was for the
best. I c
happen.

ust

Paul

-
My son lay unconscious on the ground before my filthy, mud-caked
shoes.

put the fear of God in him before I knocked

him out, but the kid actually snapped off a bunch of spells the instant I

mainly trying to slow me down. And every single time he cast something, it
was a different spell.
 Sure, the fight had only lasted a few seconds. But it was a complete
surprise attack, and I still needed three steps to take him down. That last one
ightly, he would have
snared both my legs and taken me out in no time.

been in a group, one of his allies would have stepped in to protect him by the

between us, I might have needed four steps.

For all intents and purposes, the kid got the best of me. You could

his own weight in a labyrinth.

-

The boy was downright terrifying. But for some reason, that made me

where my son was concerned, all I felt was pride.

I quickly proceeded to tie up my son. The carriage had arrived by the

time I finished, so I picked him up and prepared to toss him into it.
Of course, Laws picked that moment to show up with Sylphie in tow.

Seeing her playmate bound hand and foot, the girl immediately fired off
an Intermediate-tier offensive spell at me without so much as an incantation.

power and speed were both impressive. She could easily have killed a normal
person.

After handing Ghislaine my letter, I unceremoniously dumped Rudeus

in the carriage and let the coachman know he was good to go. Glancing over, I
saw Laws crouched next to Sylphie, speaking to her firmly but quietly.

get the chance to reclaim his rightful role. Exhaling quietly, I watched the
little family conference from a distance; after a moment, the wind carried
me.
 Hmm. That girl really adores you, son of mine.

stay inside if they wanted to watch, mostly for their own safety. But I suppose
they wanted to see the boy off, at least.

For some reason, Zenith and Lilia acted out a weirdly theatrical scene

worried about Rudeus.

The kid had a solid head on his shoulders, after all.

friendly with Daddy, too. Or at least stop ganging up on me.

t that way.

Eheheheh.
Hm. Wait a second, though.
Rudeus was about to start special, accelerated training under a Sword
King. Five years from now, he would be twelve. Much bigger and stronger
than he was now. If we had another anything-goes scrap when he came back,
was I even going to stand a chance?
Oh, man. My paternal dignity was on the line.

training a bit as
 Zenith glanced at me with a disinterested expression. Lilia leaned over
to stage-

t of effort in until

Apparently, I was already somewhat lacking in the paternal dignity

department.

lump of pride and nobility, and I was never exactly fond of him. I wanted to
be a friendly, lovable kind of father, not a dignified one.
-for-nothing guy with a

At this point, I glanced at Zenith out of the corner of my eye.

I guess. Nheheh.
Well, there was time enough to think about that later.

the road.

sure I could have

convinced you in an argument.

like you will

the challenges in front of you will make you stronger in the end.
So resent me all you like. Resent me, and resent yourself for letting me do
this.

running away, rather than ever facing up to him. I do regret that to some
y.

but I found women I loved, protected the things I cared about, and grew tough
enough to put the screws on my own kid.
 You want to fight back? Fine by me. Have at it.
Come back stronger, kid. Strong enough to stand up to your tyrant of a
dad.
 Extra Chapter:
The Mother of the Greyrat Family

My name is Zenith Greyrat.

I was born in the Holy Country of Millis, a land noted for its long
history, great beauty, and rigid moral code. By birth, I was a member of the
nobility the second daughter of a count.

I thought the little world I knew was all there was. I was clueless and naïve.
But I was also a good child, if I do say so myself. I never disobeyed my
parents. My grades in school were excellent. I obeyed the tenets of the Millis
Church, and I learned to play the role expected of me in society gatherings.
Some people even called me the perfect picture of a Millis lady. My parents

Had things continued as they were, I suppose I would have been

introduced at some party to a man my parents chose for me. Probably the
first son of some marquess, well-mannered but proud, with absolute respect
for the dictates of the Millis Church. I would have married this moral paragon,
given birth to his children, and seen my name go down in the register of
Millis nobility as a perfectly respectable marchioness.
As a woman of the aristocracy, that was the road in front of me.

My life changed forever on my fifteenth birthday the day I came of

age. I had a terrible fight with my parents. For the first time in my life, I
refused to do what they told me. And I ran away from home.

life. My little sister Therese had always been a free spirit, and I think I was a
little jealous of her as well. These factors, along with many smaller ones,
combined to push me off the path I had been following.

in an academy for noble girls, and had

even gotten proficient at Intermediate spells. Millis was a country where
Healing and Protection magic flourished, but it was still unusual to progress
beyond the rank of Beginner in either. Reaching the Intermediate tier opened

achievement that earned me much admiration in our school.

As a result, I was convinced I could make it on my own anywhere I
went.
 I really was hopelessly naïve.
A dishonest group of people spotted me almost immediately, as I
awkwardly tried to navigate the unfamiliar process of taking a room at an

taking advantage of my total ignorance. The pay they offered was lower than
what Beginner-tier magicians earned, but they insisted it was higher than the
going rate.
Being a complete fool, I took their superficial kindness at face value. I
actually remember thinking, I suppose the world does have some decent people
in it.

them. They were probably planning to use me as a human shield in battle or

force me to cast magic until I fainted. Maybe even to demand sexual favors.
But they didn
Paul Greyrat.

into his own travelling party. Until Elinaliseone of his companions

violent thug.
In any case, that was how I met my future husband.
At first, I hated Paul. He was an Asuran noble by birth, but his language
was coarse. He broke his promises left and right, acted impulsively, wasted
money, and mocked me constantly. Not to mention that he routinely groped
my butt and sometimes made highly inappropriate advances.

to my rescue, after all. He made fun of my cluelessness, but in the end, he

always sighed and stepped in to help.
We were total opposites, but he was dependable, free-spirited, and

Of course, there were always pretty women around him. And I was a
follower of the Millis Church, which preached the virtues of monogamy. I
might have run away from home, but the teachings of my faith had been
drilled into me daily since I was a child, and everyone I knew in school had
been a believer. Its commandments were deeply rooted in my mind.

Paul immediately agreed with an easy smile.

Once he broke his promise, I thought I might be able to get over him.
considered that I might get pregnant after a single night with him.

would actually do the honorable thing and marry me the way he did.
The child I bore him was a son, as it turned out.
Rudeus Greyrat. My little Rudy.

***

very serious expression on his face so much like his

intently, he peered into one crib for a moment, then looked over into the
other.

He stuck out his tongue at her and made a silly face.

Nodding in satisfaction as Norn gurgled happily, Rudeus resumed his

previous serious expression.

This time, it was Aisha who piped up out of nowhere. Rudeus

immediately turned to face her, pressed his palms against his cheeks, and

been keeping up this little routine for quite a while now.

At the sight
my own.

most serious expression on; no matter how well things went with his sword
practice or his magic, he never looked particularly satisfied. He almost never
let me or Paul see him smile. And when he did, it was usually a forced,
awkward grin.
 But now, he was making silly faces to amuse his little sisters and
smiling with genuine pleasure when it worked. Just watching him put me in a
pretty good mood myself.

started to feel like he was so talented that he secretly looked down on the

gotten that attached to me, for one thing.

But I had it all wrong, of course. I realized this in the midst of our
greatest family crisis the day Lilia announced her pregnancy, and Paul
confessed that he was responsible.
I felt so terribly betrayed by the both of them. So angry and so sad.
In particular, I was so furious at Paul for breaking his vows to me that I
felt abo
to Lilia or announcing that I was leaving myself; it took an effort of will to
keep myself calm.

planned to dump him

break apart our family for good.

But in the end, Rudy changed my mind. Playing the part of a guileless
child, he stepped in to guid
exactly admirable, of course. And even if I believed his little story, it certainly

what he was really feeling, deep down inside.

He was afraid. Terrified his family was going to break apart.
The moment I realized that, I finally understood that he did love us in
his own way. And I wanted nothing more than to reassure him. My anger
softened. I managed to bring myself to forgive both Paul and Lilia on the spot.

real pretty, just like

happily. My ever-serious little son was soothing his sister with silly baby talk.
 e time, but lately I
was starting to appreciate his dependability as well. Things had been truly
hectic after Aisha and Norn were born. Our two new daughters cried at all
hours of the night, puked up half the milk we fed them, and routinely pooped
when we were bathing them. Lilia told me all of this was perfectly natural,
that it was only to be expected, but in no time, I was utterly exhausted. For
days and days, I barely got a wink of sleep.
But then Rudy stepped in and started to handle all sorts of things for

have picked up a few things from watching Lilia.

you.

age so helpful and reliable, or even capable of looking after newborn babies
the way he did.
Watching him work sometimes reminded me of my brother, who
presumably still lived back in the Holy Country. Like Rudy, he was serious,
diligent, and talented; my father always told us to learn from his example. But
he was also cold to his family, and ignored his little sisters almost completely.

as a brother. Rudy was obviously going to be different. He was going to be a

That ce

to Paul while they looked down at Norn and Aisha. I was already eager to see
what the three of them would be like in

crib to make more silly faces.

awling. Rudy touched her diaper to see if it

was wet, then picked her up and checked her back for rashes, but the
waterworks just kept flowing.

called for Lilia, only to fall into an outright panic once I remembered she was
out shopping at the moment. But Rudy stayed admirably calm. Working by
process of elimination, he checked carefully for potential problems. After a
while, he clapped his hands and turned to me.

really did fly when I watched Rudy playing with his sisters.

I lowered myself into the chair Rudy pulled up for me, opened up my
blouse, and took my bawling baby into my arms.
Norn had clearly been quite hungry, just as Rudy thought. She
immediately pressed her little mouth to my nipple and began to suckle
greedily. The sensation always made me intensely conscious of my own
motherhood.

After a moment, I realized that Rudy was watching.

curious,
expect from a seven-year-old.

if Rudy was already like this at his age, there was probably going to be some
trouble down the line. The last thing I wanted was for him to go around

Startled by my little joke, Rudy jerked his head away and blushed a
brilliant shade of red.

were a baby, so

Rudy agreed easily enough, but I saw a slight hint of regret on his face.
Definitely an unusual reaction, coming from him. And extremely adorable.
 I was expecting him to get all surly and defensive at this point, but he
parried my remark with a calm expression. I
just messing with him.

It always made me feel a bit melancholy to see him acting all grown-up
like this.
I turned my attention back
on the back until she let out a little burp, I gently placed her back in her crib.
As I wiped off my breast with a cloth, I realized Rudy was staring at me
again.
Whoever does marry him might have a tough time of it. Sylphie seems like

Norn looked quite satisfied now she that had something in her

Unfortunately, Aisha picked this moment to start fussing a little herself.

Tearing his eyes away from my breasts, Rudy peered down into the
other crib.

Aisha up, checked her diaper, and looked for rashes and insect bites.
But after a moment, still holding the baby in his arms, he turned to me
with an uncharacteristically anxious expression. I did like seeing different
often.

Normally, she would have returned from her shopping trip by now.
Could something have happened?
No, no. A group of merchants from the Citadel of Roa were in town.

probably just taking a little longer than expected.

both get hungry at the same time as well. Normally, I breastfed Norn while

At this point, I finally understood that awkward expression on Rudy

face.
Slowly, cautiously, he continued, clearly choosing every word with care.

As a faithful member of the Millis Church, I was still unhappy with both

to my faith, but it was never pleasant to have someone disregard your values.
And Rudy had obviously picked up on all of this.
He was afraid his suggestion might upset me. He was worried I might
even take out my displeasure on his little sister. The boy was clearly anxious.
From his perspective, Norn, Aisha, and I were all equally family.
feel the same.
Still, was this really a good idea? What if breastfeeding Aisha made me
feel anger or revulsion?
What if Rudy saw hatred on my face and despised me for it?
 red in the kindest voice I could, trying to shake off my own
uncertainty.

Slowly, hesitantly, he deposited Aisha into my arms.

After exposing the opposite breast from the one Norn had just been
using, I lifted her up to it.
I probably would have felt a bit upset if Aisha had kicked up a fuss at
this point, but she latched right on to me and started gulping down milk
immediately. Too quietly for Rudy to hear, I breathed a little sigh of relief.
I felt the exact same way I did when I was feeding Norn. My heart was
full of a warm, pleasant awareness of my own motherhood, and nothing else.
How odd. Why had I hesitated, even slightly, to bring Aisha to my
breast? Why had I thought this would make me feel unhappy? Why did I
think of this as some trial I had to endure?

else really mattered.

make a difference when it comes to things like this.

Seeing Aisha happily suckling at my breast, and the contented

expression on my own face, Rudy smiled with obvious relief. He clearly
regarded protecting his little sisters to be his duty. Very admirable. His desire
to become a good big brother, worthy of their adoration, seemed to be quite
genuine.

while, she finished up and took her mouth from my breast; only moments
later, she was nodding off in my arms, so I lowered her back into her crib.
Rudy watched from a distance, his gaze warmer than usual.
 After slowly sitting at my side, Rudy leaned his head toward me
invitingly. I reached down and began to stroke it gently.
Rudy was our first child, and he never needed much from us. Most of
hat had
begun to change.

Sensing a bit of warmth, I turned in its direction. Spring sunshine was

streaming in through the window. Outside, golden fields of wheat stretched
out as far as the eye could see. It was the picture of a peaceful spring
afternoon. As I gazed quietly out at it, a sense of happiness washed over me.

I suppose he also found this little domestic scene pleasantly tranquil.

But it was only thanks to him that I could feel the same.

reduced to one wife of two, I would probably have stormed out of this house
with Norn, cursing my misfortune. Or stayed behind, perhaps to take out my
resentment on Lilia and Aisha.
Thank goodness for Rudy.

experienced this blissful moment.

Startled, Rudy looked up at me. After an awkward pause, he scratched

his head and answered in an adorably bashful tone of voice.

My only reply was another chuckle of amusement.

Character Design Concept Gallery
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